Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection coming from the team behind Half-Life 2: Update

For people who are still somehow yet to play through Half-Life 2 and the episodes, perhaps this Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection might end up being the best way.

I haven't. I loved the first one to bits, but I never got very far in the second one. I gave it a shot a couple of times, but I just couldn't get into a groove with it.

For people who are still somehow yet to play through Half-Life 2 and the episodes, perhaps this Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection might end up being the best way.

I haven't. I loved the first one to bits, but I never got very far in the second one. I gave it a shot a couple of times, but I just couldn't get into a groove with it.

A bit the same for me. I never played the first one (only the original TF mod) and then got the second one for my PS3, years later, and I've never liked playing FPS games with a controller, so I played an hour or so, didn't quite get into if, an I kind of never continued.

I have been meaning to play the remastered editions of both of them though. It is probably worth it, instead of playing the originals. It tends to bug me if the graphics is too far off, in a game like that.

I still love the Half Life series to bits and play through them from time to time.
Would even love to get new story content from Valve with that old tech.
Ofc, I know, that's out of question.

Imho, the half life series has aged extremely well and I miss those kind of games.
Handcrafted single-player campaigns with a really good story.

Those plenty sandbox games with procedurally generated (infinite) levels or size
are just not my cup of tea. They highlight the total freedom with infinite possibilities -
yet, to me, it seems this is often just a cheap argument, because doing
handcrafted single-player campaigns and a good story is hard.
Too pricey and too hard for those many small indie devs.
Unfortunately, and I totally understand that.

Wait, *additional* episodes? My heart skipped a beat before re-reading the sentence and noticing "the".


Last edited by pb on 30 July 2021 at 11:58 am UTC

Wait, *additional* episodes? My heart skipped a beat before re-reading the sentence and noticing "the".

Damn. Thanks. I misread it in the very same way.
Just didn't notice it.

Was so pumped for some new content.

For people who are still somehow yet to play through Half-Life 2 and the episodes, perhaps this Half-Life 2: Remastered Collection might end up being the best way.

I haven't. I loved the first one to bits, but I never got very far in the second one. I gave it a shot a couple of times, but I just couldn't get into a groove with it.

It has some pacing issues. The sewer chapter (also known as Route Kanal) at the beginning of the game is way too long (I think developers even admitted to that somewhere). It's trying to keep things interesting, but if you don't know what you're doing, you'll get confused multiple times and it might take hours to complete the chapter.

It's bit of a shame that it might make people quit the game as the coolest things are introduced after that. Pace literally gets faster in the chapter after Route Kanal.

Imho, the half life series has aged extremely well and I miss those kind of games.
Handcrafted single-player campaigns with a really good story.

Me too.
I suppose you already played borderlands series, right?

Wow seems like the perfect game to test my brand new setup
Would be nice if this remaster was in source 2 but I doubt it'll be the case

Those plenty sandbox games with procedurally generated (infinite) levels or size
are just not my cup of tea

I second that. For me procedural generated content is usually just a fancy copy & paste content, It's good in some cases but I rather have a handmade environment because it feels more immersive, specially combined with a good in game lore.

Still peeved at the forced install of that shop to be able to play the game. I'll keep skipping it.

Yes, I can hold grudges for a long, long time.

It's bit of a shame that it might make people quit the game as the coolest things are introduced after that. Pace literally gets faster in the chapter after Route Kanal.

I was going to say that I might give it a third try, maybe using this update, after I'd played some more of the games that I've never played before...

...but then I thought of using the Deck to play games on the toilet (multitasking!) as "clearing your backlog" and now I can't unthink it.

Still peeved at the forced install of that shop to be able to play the game. I'll keep skipping it.

Yes, I can hold grudges for a long, long time.

lol

...but then I thought of using the Deck to play games on the toilet (multitasking!) as "clearing your backlog" and now I can't unthink it.

This comment right here, officer.

Those plenty sandbox games with procedurally generated (infinite) levels or size
are just not my cup of tea

I second that. For me procedural generated content is usually just a fancy copy & paste content, It's good in some cases but I rather have a handmade environment because it feels more immersive, specially combined with a good in game lore.

It seems to be hard to get right in FPS games even without trying to procedurally generate lore and story. It's tool that has to be used wisely. If it doesn't serve the gameplay, it's not worth the effort. Getting it right is not easy as totally random generation might yield something unique, but unplayable. Using handcrafted building blocks makes things easier, but then level generation has less room to be creative.

Immortal Redneck for example has handcrafted rooms. Which is great for a while, but as it's rogue-lite you get to see same rooms quite many times.

It seems to be hard to get right in FPS games even without trying to procedurally generate lore and story.

"Lore" is impossible to procedurally generate, but I got your point

It's tool that has to be used wisely. If it doesn't serve the gameplay, it's not worth the effort. Getting it right is not easy as totally random generation might yield something unique, but unplayable. Using handcrafted building blocks makes things easier, but then level generation has less room to be creative.

I remember watching an old video about the process of Valve's team in making a map (I guess it was TF2), and their process involves creating map artworks before they start creating assets, and then starting map development. You can play any fps from Valve and see the difference in quality on official maps, they do a very good job on development that gives the feeling that we are playing on a different map from the other, in contrast to community maps where most of them are so worried about the gameplay that results in a maps that feels like some other maps glued together.

Yes I'm aware that Valve has way more re$ources than some modders, but my point here is to say that a good art process can't be make by algorithms (although it can help if used in some components).

Another example is Deep Rock Galactic, I usually love coop games and was thinking in buying the game until I've played in a free weekend. Although the gameplay is similar to other games I usually like, the maps for me gave me the feel that I was playing in the same room with just a different color palette due to their PG maps.

...but then I thought of using the Deck to play games on the toilet (multitasking!) as "clearing your backlog" and now I can't unthink it.

Imagine dropping it and having to go to the back of the queue for a new one.

It seems to be hard to get right in FPS games even without trying to procedurally generate lore and story.

"Lore" is impossible to procedurally generate

Dwarf Fortress would like a word with you.

(Though I broadly agree, as I think that with procedural generation—as with anything else that goes into a video game—the quality of results you get out is commensurate with the amount of effort you put in. Dwarf Fortress is an extreme outlier on the quality scale due to also being an extreme outlier on the "effort invested" scale.)

HL3VR confirmed? Ha, had to be said. Also, Half-Life: Alyx was spectacular!

Still peeved at the forced install of that shop to be able to play the game. I'll keep skipping it.

Yes, I can hold grudges for a long, long time.

I bought an X800XT just for HL2. Then on release day I bought both HL2 and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines at the local Best Buy. Got them back to my dorm room and immediately grabbed HL2 while my roommate installed VtMB. I was one of the people affected by Steam's release day bug and could not log into my account. So, I fired up whatever file-sharing I was doing and grabbed the RAZOR1911 release with the Steam emulator and played the game that way multiple times for three or four years. I finally logged by into Steam for the first time to claim my copy of "The Black Box" for buying another ATI card, and finally discovered that I LIKED Steam.

It was okay. I mean, I wasn't really blown away until Episode 2. I LOVE Episode 2(then I played Portal not knowing anything about it, the same way I saw The Matrix, hadn't even even a trailer). I've recently replayed BLACK MESA now that they have the Xen levels complete, and honestly I can't remember if I was more frustrated with the original HL or with BM, mainly because I haven't played the Xen levels on the original since my first playthough in late 1998.

VtMB on the other hand is something that I've replayed through the years more times than I can count. Love it, but I haven't fired it up since I switched from Windows 7 to Ubuntu. I should probably do that. I just played through Far Cry 4 now that it's working correctly in SteamPlay.

My point is that you should learn to forgive. :)

Instead of remastering it, they should have made more stories. Remastering the game won't make it more interesting.

Welp, time toplay through HL2 + episodes again.
This time on the deck