Half-Life Is Back - wow, you'll be able to pick up that can in VR

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Half-Life Is Back - wow, you'll be able to pick up that can in VR

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Captain Hygiene: Sep 17, 2007; You mess with the crabbo...

Cartoon Man posted:

I’m almost done, on the last chapter. For my second play through, are there cheats I can enable to start the game from the beginning with fully powered up weapons from the get go and unlimited ammo in my bag? I’d like to leave the health and damage alone though, just want to Rambo through it a second time.

This morning I randomly found out the good old cheat console evidently still works, look that up for some weapons fun. Makes me want to dive back in again.

# ? Apr 8, 2020 19:55

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 21:40

Anachronasty: Apr 11, 2010

Cartoon Man posted:

I�m almost done, on the last chapter. For my second play through, are there cheats I can enable to start the game from the beginning with fully powered up weapons from the get go and unlimited ammo in my bag? I�d like to leave the health and damage alone though, just want to Rambo through it a second time.

Yes! Under launch options for Half-Life Alyx, type "-console -vconsole" (without quotation marks). Pressing the tilde key in-game should open the console on your monitor.

code:

god	Toggle invincibility.
buddha	Take damage, but you can�t die.
impulse 101	Gives all weapons and 20 resin
impulse 102	Gives all weapon upgrades.
sv_infinite_ammo 1	Toggle infinite ammo for all weapons
sv_infinite_clips 1	Toggle infinite ammo for your magazine, no reloading required
hlvr_shotgun_grant_upgrades 3	Gives Shotgun with all upgrades unlocked.

# ? Apr 8, 2020 21:20

Vinylshadow: Mar 20, 2017

# ? Apr 8, 2020 21:36

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

Anachronasty posted:

Yes! Under launch options for Half-Life Alyx, type "-console -vconsole" (without quotation marks). Pressing the tilde key in-game should open the console on your monitor.
code:
god	Toggle invincibility.
buddha	Take damage, but you can�t die.
impulse 101	Gives all weapons and 20 resin
impulse 102	Gives all weapon upgrades.
sv_infinite_ammo 1	Toggle infinite ammo for all weapons
sv_infinite_clips 1	Toggle infinite ammo for your magazine, no reloading required
hlvr_shotgun_grant_upgrades 3	Gives Shotgun with all upgrades unlocked.

Oh gently caress yes this gonna be fun.

# ? Apr 8, 2020 22:08

Rabid Snake: Aug 6, 2004

Has anyone played on the Oculus Quest? How does it play with the link (usb 3 cable) or wirelessly (Virtual Desktop)? I'll be getting mine next week and I'm wondering how it performs

# ? Apr 8, 2020 22:13

Lemming: Apr 21, 2008

Rabid Snake posted:

Has anyone played on the Oculus Quest? How does it play with the link (usb 3 cable) or wirelessly (Virtual Desktop)? I'll be getting mine next week and I'm wondering how it performs

I played through on Quest with Link, it was good the whole way through

# ? Apr 8, 2020 22:16

PIZZA.BAT: Nov 12, 2016

Rabid Snake posted:

Has anyone played on the Oculus Quest? How does it play with the link (usb 3 cable) or wirelessly (Virtual Desktop)? I'll be getting mine next week and I'm wondering how it performs

Also played on the Quest via link. I had no issues at all

# ? Apr 8, 2020 22:24

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

Holy loving poo poo that ending!
:randvince:

That�s got to set up the HL3 game that�s still secretly in development right?!?!?

:randno:

# ? Apr 8, 2020 23:25

chaosapiant: Oct 10, 2012; White Line Fever

Has this been posted?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z8Ccyo1B7A

# ? Apr 9, 2020 05:11

Al Cu Ad Solte: Nov 30, 2005; Searching for
a righteous cause

Yeah HLA was only the second VR game I played (the other being Superhot, so good) and I started with continuous movement. Never had a problem. I think because my brain doesn't see it as being "oh wow it's like I'm really there!" and more like "this super loving cool cyberpunk monitor wraps around my eyes!"

The only thing that got disorienting was when I looked down over a high ledge, but I have a fear of heights so :negative:

# ? Apr 9, 2020 07:56

Bloodplay it again: Aug 25, 2003; Oh, Dee, you card. :-*

Just finished Alyx this morning. I really enjoyed it from start to finish and can't wait to build VR maps using Hammer. I haven't been this excited about a game since probably Morrowind and am already itching to play through again on easy to get the last of the cheevos.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 13:36

TIP: Mar 21, 2006; Your move, creep.

I restarted it on hard and I'm kinda disappointed at how easy it is. Now that I'm confident at handling the guns and remember most enemy placements it really drains the tension from the opening chapters.

I'm just tearing through the game and not putting any effort into searching for pickups. It only took me an hour and a half to make it to chapter five.

Hopefully the later chapters are more of a challenge, so far I haven't noticed much of a change from my normal difficulty playthrough.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:20

Bloodplay it again: Aug 25, 2003; Oh, Dee, you card. :-*

Do enemies take more damage? For some reason, I thought the difficulty only changes the health, ammo and resin drops, but that could be completely wrong. Might be steam discussions bologna.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:22

Captain Hygiene: Sep 17, 2007; You mess with the crabbo...

There's such a different dynamic to a lot of the combat than HL2 et al, understandably especially since it's both a sort-of trial run from the development end, and probably a "babby's first VR experience" for a lot of folks. I haven't gone back for a second run, but a lot of the combat my first time through was either straightforward or noticeably easier the instant I knew where all the spawns were coming in. It'll be interesting to see how that changes in a follow-up.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:25

INTJ Mastermind: Dec 30, 2004; It's a radial!

My next play through is going to be just zipping around with teleport, throwing grenades everywhere, mixed with shotguns to the face.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:37

TIP: Mar 21, 2006; Your move, creep.

Bloodplay it again posted:

Do enemies take more damage? For some reason, I thought the difficulty only changes the health, ammo and resin drops, but that could be completely wrong. Might be steam discussions bologna.

So far it seems like most enemies take the same number of shots to go down. I think the man hacks might take more shots now, and it did seem like there were more of them.

I've had no issues with finding enough ammo and health despite doing pretty much no digging around for it. I just grab the super obvious stuff now.

I'm probably getting less resin this time around, but I also don't really care about the weapon upgrades that much. I've gotten so good with the guns that I feel like laser sights and other add-ons are gonna make it too easy on this run through. The only upgrade I've done so far is the autoloader on the shotgun.

# ? Apr 9, 2020 19:50

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

I've bee playing older FPS games and I got to Half Life 1. Holy poo poo, when you play something like Quake or Jedi Knight back to back with Half Life it is downright shocking how big a leap Half Life is in presentation and level design. Not necessarily better level design, but does it ever nail the impression of a real world place better than anything that came before it. Jedi Knight has some insanely creative levels, especially Mysteries of the Sith, but Half Life's commitment to its impression of realism is still impressive to this day.

It actually makes me surprised then that Half Life 2 tended to do the same thing in 2004. It's another massive leap forward in terms of "realistic" level design that lays the foundation for every realist shooter that's followed. Even after Half Life 1's impact, you still had lots of FPS titles with esoteric level designs. Jedi Knight 2 and Jedi Academy even made fun of how batshit insane their level designs were. Halo stuck a middle ground between semi realistic environments and weird alien world stuff. But then you get Half Life 2 and it goes even further with the realism approach.

They're both trendsetters, to be sure. Having come off a Doom Eternal bender and my dip back into retro FPS titles, hitting up Half Life really makes you appreciate how different the series was from what came before and from a lot of what came after.

Also playing Quake and Half Life so close to each other it's strange seeing proto Half Life DNA in Quake.

Arc Hammer fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Apr 10, 2020

# ? Apr 10, 2020 05:58

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

The original Unreal often gets overlooked these days, but it too has got some real drat good level design and architecture for its age.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 10:43

Beve Stuscemi: Jun 6, 2001

The original unreal is very slept on. I remember exiting the ship for the first time and being blown away by the big vista you�re dropped on.

I have never gone back and replayed that game and I feel like my memories might be very rose tinted given how many play throughs and speed runs and pontification you see in 2020 on half-life 1 compared to none of that for unreal, but I loved it at the time.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 14:23

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

Late in the game is a full blown castle that is still fantastic looking today. It�s the level that they show during the title screen while the camera zooms around showing off the game engine.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 14:31

chaosapiant: Oct 10, 2012; White Line Fever

Unreal is super gorgeous to look at, but the combat isn�t very fun, imo. Granted I�m still early in the game but most of the enemies are some form of dodge-rolling bullet sponges, which makes for some intense but not very fun fights.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 14:50

Enos Cabell: Nov 3, 2004

Unreal was the first game I played on my 3Dfx Voodoo 2 SLI setup, poo poo was mind blowing. :getin:

# ? Apr 10, 2020 14:53

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

Supposedly Valve has patched the game so that carrying a crate of grenades works much better.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 15:52

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

I think it's important to look at these games in context with one another. Its been a running theme as long as Half Life exists that someone new plays it after hearing the hype and when they actually sit down to play it they're left cold. You have to compare the games to their contemporaries to see just how different they were from other games at the time.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 15:55

NtotheTC: Dec 31, 2007

by the way if you haven't seen it you owe it to yourself to watch the half-life 2 devs reacting to a 50 minute speedrun it's really interesting to hear them talk about the development of the game, and also their confusion whenever the speedrunner does something they didn't realise was possible.

They also talk about HL:A a bit

NtotheTC fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Apr 10, 2020

# ? Apr 10, 2020 17:12

Al Cu Ad Solte: Nov 30, 2005; Searching for
a righteous cause

https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/10/21212241/half-life-alyx-ending-explained-discussed-g-man-gordon-freeman-half-life-3

Article on the ending with the writers of HL:A and the future of the series. Good read. Obviously, spoilers.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 17:13

Freakazoid_: Jul 5, 2013; Buglord

So, they don't know what they're doing. Great! They're open to the idea of Alyx being a separate timeline at least, that would tidy a lot of this up even if it's hacky as hell.

# ? Apr 10, 2020 19:07

NtotheTC: Dec 31, 2007

The Article posted:

Like Batman, who he is may not matter, since his impact on the story is always felt through what he does. The mystery is part of the experience, and explaining too much may remove some of his charm.

�That�s more so than so many other characters, just how unknowable he is, and just what his motivations are, everything has been mysterious,� Pinkerton said. �Everything about him is alien and other and yeah, I think for me, personally, I�m not talking as the company because as a person, I just think it would just rob that character of so much if I suddenly had his bio, and I knew where he lived, or what he wore when he got his mail. It just doesn�t interest me.�

Good. Someone else gets it. I really dislike this need for people to KNOW everything about a character. I'd be perfectly happy if we never found out exactly who/what Gman and his employers are

# ? Apr 10, 2020 19:47

TIP: Mar 21, 2006; Your move, creep.

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/10/21212241/half-life-alyx-ending-explained-discussed-g-man-gordon-freeman-half-life-3

Article on the ending with the writers of HL:A and the future of the series. Good read. Obviously, spoilers.

quote:

Like Batman, who he is may not matter, since his impact on the story is always felt through what he does. The mystery is part of the experience, and explaining too much may remove some of his charm.

This is such a weird thing to say. Has the writer never watched or read literally any Batman media?

# ? Apr 10, 2020 20:39

NtotheTC: Dec 31, 2007

Tip posted:

This is such a weird thing to say. Has the writer never watched or read literally any Batman media?

He's referencing the quote from batman: "It's not who I am inside that matters but what I do that defines me" in the films

# ? Apr 10, 2020 20:56

caldrax: Jan 21, 2001; i learned it from watching you

Did anyone else feel this crazy sense of relief wash over them the day after completing this? I've been thinking about anticipating the next game in this series for so long that getting it and finishing it really just seemed to take all this tension I didn't know I was carrying out of me. That tension was compounded by my Index bugging out and needing replacement the day after release, so 5 hours in I had to wait 2 weeks to get to the conclusion, but now that I'm there, and the next day I'm playing Final Fantasy 7 remake, a much more laid back game, I just feel like, good, and relieved. It even pulled me out of the events going around the outside world right now. Even if we don't get a sequel for awhile, or even ever, I felt a sense of resolution, despite there still being questions.

# ? Apr 11, 2020 09:59

SCheeseman: Apr 23, 2003

I feel a lot better than I did after playing DNF on release that's for loving sure.

# ? Apr 11, 2020 10:01

Al Cu Ad Solte: Nov 30, 2005; Searching for
a righteous cause

caldrax posted:

Did anyone else feel this crazy sense of relief wash over them the day after completing this? I've been thinking about anticipating the next game in this series for so long that getting it and finishing it really just seemed to take all this tension I didn't know I was carrying out of me. That tension was compounded by my Index bugging out and needing replacement the day after release, so 5 hours in I had to wait 2 weeks to get to the conclusion, but now that I'm there, and the next day I'm playing Final Fantasy 7 remake, a much more laid back game, I just feel like, good, and relieved. It even pulled me out of the events going around the outside world right now. Even if we don't get a sequel for awhile, or even ever, I felt a sense of resolution, despite there still being questions.

Art be like that sometimes. :allears:

# ? Apr 11, 2020 14:59

Beve Stuscemi: Jun 6, 2001

It�s funny because my level of anxiety went way down once i hit the prepurchase button because I knew I was gonna play the game for real.

My anxiety level is back up now because even though Valve says it won�t be another 13 years, it�s Valve, so it could be another 20.

My hope for the short term is the porting work to get HL2 into HLA works out because I can play those games all day, along with the eventual level editor making for some fun stuff

# ? Apr 11, 2020 15:42

smoobles: Sep 4, 2014; Can't post for 3 hours!

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

My hope for the short term is the porting work to get HL2 into HLA works out because I can play those games all day, along with the eventual level editor making for some fun stuff

I think Highway 17 in VR might genuinely kill me.

# ? Apr 11, 2020 16:25

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

smoobles posted:

I think Highway 17 in VR might genuinely kill me.

Yeah, an HL2 VR port would have to do something to bypass the vehicle sections.

Just the constant swapping between seated and standing alone would probably screw with people.

# ? Apr 11, 2020 16:49

smoobles: Sep 4, 2014; Can't post for 3 hours!

It could just change your height value when you're in the car, but the landscape clipping through your IRL legs might feel freaky.

Plus that rickety piece of poo poo buggy is designed to flip over every time you hit a small rock, I don't know how that could be adapted.

# ? Apr 11, 2020 16:53