Support NeoGAF

[Romulus]

"Starting to dawn on me that I paid a thousand dollars to play this."

Time Crisis with annoying puzzles

Even if he's joking, he's kinda right about the Time Crisis part, he's using teleportation movement. I know it works for some people, but it absolutely wrecks gameplay for me.

Also, he hated Half Life 2? Lol that or all his vids are satire.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Romulus]

I noticed this game has been #1-3 on steam bestsellers next to Doom the last days. That's crazy impressive that a game with such a small userbase is selling anywhere near Doom. That or the VR userbase has increased more that we thought.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

In chapter 6 and still really enjoying my time with it, but I gotta say, I'm really tired off the multi-tool puzzles already. The ones where you got to spin around the globe and align the beams get frustrating when it reaches three stages. I think the hand tracking on the Oculus Rift is just not there. They should at least make retries instantaneous instead of forcing you to watch the animation again each time you fail.

 

[Alexios]

In chapter 6 and still really enjoying my time with it, but I gotta say, I'm really tired off the multi-tool puzzles already. The ones where you got to spin around the globe and align the beams get frustrating when it reaches three stages. I think the hand tracking on the Oculus Rift is just not there. They should at least make retries instantaneous instead of forcing you to watch the animation again each time you fail.

Rift tracking is fine, just make sure to turn the globe with your other hand and work in tandem with the one guiding the dot, it gets weird when you move the tool around in weird angles against the globe if you don't rotate it with your other hand to face you better, not because of the tracking.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Rift tracking is fine, just make sure to turn the globe with your other hand and work in tandem with the one guiding the dot, it gets weird when you move the tool around in weird angles against the globe if you don't rotate it with your other hand to face you better, not because of the tracking.

Yeah, I'm rotating it with my left hand and using the tool with my right, but it frequently loses track of my right hand (tool) and that causes me to fail sometimes. It's not a huge deal, just feels really janky. I honestly wish there were a lot more traditional environmental physics-based puzzles in this. Would be fun to manually manipulate things.

 

[Alexios]

Yeah I was disappointed to find that occasionally when I stacked boxes and barrels and shit to get some place high I was neither supposed to nor did the game allow it (I was at the height of a balcony/rail yet I couldn't vault over even though the stacks had brought me high enough to) or at best have nothing to do there. It was weird because in this one area it came more naturally to me to attempt this and find out I can't get where I'm supposed to because the obvious solution was to open a nearby door that was blocked with the common boards you can remove instead and I had not noticed it at all because stacking the glowing yellow barrels just made so much sense, lol. Or in other cases where there are invisible walls to stop you from falling off, I get that they wanted it a comfortable experience but let me fall to my death if I'm being dumb rather than show me obviously that it's all smoke and mirrors and not as interactive and physical as it seems. It does have some nice physics based moments of its own though at various times, I won't spoil them for you by mentioning even one example as they're not that many but you WILL like them

 

[Lokimaru]

Love the game but I find I freeze up when my Gun clicks empty while I'm being attacked instead of quickly reloading. This has never happened to me before in a VR game. Something About how they have you reload takes too much Thought and It's like my mind doesn't have enough bandwidth to processes it all when a head crab zombie is lumbering towards me and I just freeze up. Maybe it's the familiar enemies that produce this reaction of "shit!... Oh Fuck ...OH FUCK!" but it's annoying lol..

 

[Alexios]

So, practice when out of combat, have all your weapons reloaded and switch to another which is quicker, get to cover first, use grenades, etc.

The reloading is not that dissimilar to other VR FPS and I like these "realistic" methods seen here and in the likes of Onward and Saints & Sinners over simplistic stuff like just pushing the guns to your ammo pouch to auto reload as in something like Arizona Sunshine.

Though just pointing down to reload works excellently for the arcade feel of Pistol Whip too. You are able to get upgrades for all guns to hold more ammo and require less reloading in the heat of battle eventually too, prioritize those rather than use resin up elsewhere I guess.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Love the game but I find I freeze up when my Gun clicks empty while I'm being attacked instead of quickly reloading. This has never happened to me before in a VR game. Something About how they have you reload takes too much Thought and It's like my mind doesn't have enough bandwidth to processes it all when a head crab zombie is lumbering towards me and I just freeze up. Maybe it's the familiar enemies that produce this reaction of "shit!... Oh Fuck ...OH FUCK!" but it's annoying lol..

I felt the same way in the first two or three hours, but I'm 7 hours in now and have really gotten used to the combat. Just finished an area a bit ago where I needed to run around a pretty tight arena with like 4 or 5 zombies and two other enemies that I needed to kill first before taking out the zombies. I was surprised at how acclimated I had gotten to the movement and reloading mechanics. Just about second nature at this point.

 

[INC]

So, practice when out of combat, have all your weapons reloaded and switch to another which is quicker, get to cover first, use grenades, etc.

The reloading is not that dissimilar to other VR FPS and I like these "realistic" methods seen here and in the likes of Onward and Saints & Sinners over simplistic stuff like just pushing the guns to your ammo pouch to auto reload as in something like Arizona Sunshine.

Though just pointing down to reload works excellently for the arcade feel of Pistol Whip too. You are able to get upgrades for all guns to hold more ammo and require less reloading in the heat of battle eventually too, prioritize those rather than use resin up elsewhere I guess.

Why bother? There so little engaging combat, theres like 3 areas with combine in the whole game.

 

[jackets with pockets]

I've watched quite a few videos of this and while I'm overall very impressed, there are these downsides

- loading pauses (Really? In a 2020 PC game, and by Valve, of all studios...)
- shadow pop-up
- there's no melee attack (I hope this gets patched in)
- enemy AI is of astoundingly bad quality (even the first Half-Life was miles ahead).

EDIT: Also, this is floating hands down the best lit game I've ever seen. Literally stunning at times.

 

[rofif]

Holy crap. Alyx contains filenames of everything valve ever worked on with source 2.
Seems like valve has a TON of shit developed and ready and they will be raining new games. That is the hope

jackets with pockets Starting example - you can spawn the crowbar and it fully works with damage model etc

The guy is a hype machine but doing some good work. I really hope valve will be releasing games more often now. Can't get enough of valve

 

[Stitch]

 

[Romulus]

I've watched quite a few videos of this and while I'm overall very impressed, there are these three downsides

- loading pauses (Really? In a 2020 PC game, and by Valve, of all studios...)
- there's no melee attack (I hope this gets patched in)
- enemy AI is of astoundingly bad quality (even the first Half-Life was miles ahead).

I know that on hard, the AI does the job.

 

[Wonko_C]

I wanna see that done in the modded version.

 

[Alexios]

Finished this yesterday btw, awesome ending, very Half-Life 2-esque in gameplay but the plot, ha, I didn't see that coming even though I got some of what's up near instantly

My early complaints for the mechanics and implementation of free locomotion etc remained or were made worse as later sections required even more teleportation shenanigans for jumping and shit but oh well. Overall it's a great Half-Life adventure.

I can't wait for fan maps and shit, though they'll never reach the heights of Half-Life 1 & 2's mod communities as amateurs can release their games commercially with plenty capable free engines instead of toil away on mods these days but I'm sure we'll get good stuff.

I do hope people design their fan levels more around free locomotion though, hehe. Maybe even include minor mods that improve the implementation so you can do more things without teleporting, like jumping.

 

[Romulus]

More and more keep coming in too

 

[MR ARCADE FOREVER]

How scary is chapter 5? I just started. I've heard chapter seven is terrifying. Should I put man diapers before moving along?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

How scary is chapter 5? I just started. I've heard chapter seven is terrifying. Should I put man diapers before moving along?

I just finished chapter 7 and it was great. Initially terrifying, but when you realize how dumb the AI is and how easy you can avoid the thing you need to avoid, it's easy breezy.

More and more keep coming in too

Wow at the Bridges box! Very cool.

 

[INC]

How scary is chapter 5? I just started. I've heard chapter seven is terrifying. Should I put man diapers before moving along?

No because it's still based around old gameplay mechanics, hide and seek, just throw and teleport

 

[DynamiteCop!]

 

[jackets with pockets]

I know that on hard, the AI does the job.

In one video a guy switched from normal to hard and the only thing it seemed to do was turn enemies into bullet sponges.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

In one video a guy switched from normal to hard and the only thing it seemed to do was turn enemies into bullet sponges.

Jesus, they are already bullet sponges on Normal. Seriously, it takes like 10 headshots with the pistol to down a basic soldier. Maybe I'm missing their weakspot/headshots don't matter.

 

[Romulus]

In one video a guy switched from normal to hard and the only thing it seemed to do was turn enemies into bullet sponges.

I immediately noticed the heavies push on hard more, not just the sponginess increased. It's a bit of both.

 

[GaviotaGrande]

GOTY

 

[DynamiteCop!]

Game is now a 94/100 on Metacritic, it's only 2 points away from Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and 1 point away from Portal 2.

I've going to say that Valve absolutely nailed it, nearly equal with the previous Half-Life games and the highest rated VR game ever.

 

[Romulus]

Game is now a 94/100 on Metacritic, it's only 2 points away from Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and 1 point away from Portal 2.

I've going to say that Valve absolutely nailed it, nearly equal with the previous Half-Life games and the highest rated VR game ever.

Yep. And that's considering many negative stigmas of VR, it's literally pushing against misconceptions and change, yet still rated incredibly high.

The steam user score is more impressive to me though.

 

[INC]

Now imagine how much better its gonna get with mod support

 

[Bootzilla]

Game is now a 94/100 on Metacritic, it's only 2 points away from Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and 1 point away from Portal 2.

I've going to say that Valve absolutely nailed it, nearly equal with the previous Half-Life games and the highest rated VR game ever.

I finished the game tonight and I can't believe how well they stuck the landing. This might as well be Half Life 3 for all I'm concerned. It's definitely better than whatever would have come from their original HL3 project.

I don't think Valve realized how overwhelmingly positive the response to this was going to be. There's SOME groaning and backlash about the VR thing but mostly people just seem really excited to have half Life back.

 

[DynamiteCop!]

I finished the game tonight and I can't believe how well they stuck the landing. This might as well be Half Life 3 for all I'm concerned. It's definitely better than whatever would have come from their original HL3 project.

I don't think Valve realized how overwhelmingly positive the response to this was going to be. There's SOME groaning and backlash about the VR thing but mostly people just seem really excited to have half Life back.

Did you watch after the credits?

 

[Bwesh]

I don't have the game or the equipment for it but I love watching people play it.

 

[Bootzilla]

Did you watch after the credits?

I did. Way to write yourself out of the corner, Valve.

 

[DynamiteCop!]

I did. Way to write yourself out of the corner, Valve.

That whole ending sequence both before and after the credits literally had my jaw dropped and I kept saying "holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"

My gf was like wtf is going on in here and I told her to shut up lol

 

[JCK75]

I have to say Half-Life Alyx may just be the single greatest gaming experience I've ever had, I've always enjoyed VR for how immersive it is and it just actually feels like being in another world, but this just takes that feeling to a whole new level with an actual amazing game to back it up.

 

[INC]

A lot of people love corridors it seems, PT was a head of its time

 

[Wonko_C]

While watching some playthroughs I can easily tell if the player is new to VR when they quickly strafe in and out of cover by moving the analog stick instead of... you know, just peeking with your head?

 

[Shai-Tan]

Holy crap. Alyx contains filenames of everything valve ever worked on with source 2.
Seems like valve has a TON of shit developed and ready and they will be raining new games. That is the hope

jackets with pockets Starting example - you can spawn the crowbar and it fully works with damage model etc

The guy is a hype machine but doing some good work. I really hope valve will be releasing games more often now. Can't get enough of valve

What does it say? That’s a long ass video

 

[rofif]

What does it say? That’s a long ass video

Only watch first 30 minutes. nothing interesting afterwards.
He shows that there are lists of maps and assets for many games like hl3 and it's prototypes. No really models but thousands of models, textres and maps. Everything the source 2 ever interacted with

 

[jackets with pockets]

Source:

 

[12Goblins]

Reading some these impressions.... It's nice to see we finally get a real next gen ^^

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Just finished it! Wish it were a bit longer with some more varied locales, but I absolutely loved the whole ride. There were only a few annoyances, and it's a shame one of them was the final turret sequence. Insta-death moves that require quick accuracy are not a good thing to do in VR.

I can't wait to see what Valve does next in Half-Life or any VR game.

 

[jackets with pockets]

Quality video demonstrating the ambience of a few City 17 locations in the game. The platforms on the unfinished Citadel actually move, albeit very slowly.




EDIT:

 

[rofif]

So after finishing Alyx, I obviously got in a mood to replay hl2 and episodes. I replayed hl2 many times but last time it was 2 years ago. Episodes only around release. I played vanilla steam versions at 4k.
omg hl2 is incredible. Still just as good as always. The pacing is just break neck. Constantly bombarding You with something new. New places, new enemies, new gameplay. The game is still groundbreaking, still looks good and sounds even better than I remember.
Episodes are not as good but just behind. Great atmosphere and story. Just a bit more "now a section with this gimmick" gameplay but still super solid.
ep2 characterization and ending still gets me...
They just don't make em like this anymore.

I've ordered Rift S today so hopefully it will be an upgrade from borrowed cv1 I've finished Alyx on.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

So after finishing Alyx, I obviously got in a mood to replay hl2 and episodes. I replayed hl2 many times but last time it was 2 years ago. Episodes only around release. I played vanilla steam versions at 4k.
omg hl2 is incredible. Still just as good as always. The pacing is just break neck. Constantly bombarding You with something new. New places, new enemies, new gameplay. The game is still groundbreaking, still looks good and sounds even better than I remember.
Episodes are not as good but just behind. Great atmosphere and story. Just a bit more "now a section with this gimmick" gameplay but still super solid.
ep2 characterization and ending still gets me...
They just don't make em like this anymore.

I've ordered Rift S today so hopefully it will be an upgrade from borrowed cv1 I've finished Alyx on.

I read your post and reinstalled HL2. You're right. It's still really good.

 

[Arkage]

Holy shit WMR (Samsung Odyssey) sucks for the Strider boss fight due to losing track of hands, since they are not where you're "looking" when aiming the canon. Totally killed the joy of it. Also a good portion of the Jeff chapter sucked due to the controller not accurately covering your mouth, which made being stuck in the elevator trying to hit the button absolutely miserable. Just a heads up for those with Odyssey. The rest works great! Lol.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Half-Life: Alyx's New Level Editor Is Valve's "Focus Now"

Jake Rodkin says there'll be more info about the updated mod tool soon.

www.usgamer.net

 

[Fuz]

 

[Hari Seldon]

Finally got my index order to payment today. Hopefully it is here early next week. Can't wait to dig into this. Had a vive with a busted base station for 4 months now waiting for this lol.