Half Life 2

[Sabretooth]

Even if your one of those weirdos who doesn't think it's the best game ever, there isn't really much that can hold a candle to it. Oblivion and.......???

 

Mario.

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

Maybe if Freeman was in the smashbrothers game:xp:

[RC-1162]

maybe he was. didnt one of the Mario bros have a beard?

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

But that was only because princess peach likes the way it tickles when......

[RC-1162]

right, got it.

and do any of you guys use cheats occasionally? you must have, at least once.

[Mace MacLeod]

In HL2? No. Was really hard in places not to, though.

[RC-1162]

well, i couldnt if i tried, though. i can't bring up the console. go figure what fun is a game of the year if you can't cheat at least once?

[stoffe]

Cheating is generally crucial for my enjoyment of single player FPS games, since I'm usually too poor at playing that kind of game to survive even on the easiest difficulty level.

 

As for Halflife 2 I haven't played it yet since Valve seems fond of putting in spider-like monsters (zombies, striders, those sand creatures) and I suffer from arachnophobia. Massive creature popping out of the sand unannounced, instakilling you, aren't much fun either (though perhaps those worms haven't survived from Halflife 1).

 

Looks like a fun shooter other than that though from what little I've seen of it (I watched a speedrun movie of it when I was bored). Is there some mod available that replaces the spider-like creatures with something less frightening?

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

"IMPULSE 101"!!!!!!!!!!!!! Free boomey things:D

 

And if you just want to go siteseeing withought those annoying disembowlments "god"

 

"noclip" is always good fun when you just want to walk through a wall or fly across the map (20 story players in counterstrike:D)

 

@RC, In the menu, go to options, in the key binding menu there is an option at the bottom called advanced, in the advanced options (ALL TWO OF THEM YAY!!! ) select "enable developer console", you can now enable the console with "~" at any time even in the menu, (it's also the fastest way to connect in counterstrike;))

 

@Stoffe, Hey, if you got some good food I'll come over and get you through the bugs to the next combine army if you want:) (striders aren't spiders, they have three legs, arachnids have eight. headcrabs aren't spiders, they have four legs, as do antlions (the sandbeetles). But isn't that the whole point, to scare the crap out of you?

 

You should just mod some stuff before you play, that way you can see them as scripts, models, etc. instead of horrors, without disrupting the true beauty of valve's designs. (I'm sure you have the brains to replace them yourself though;))

 

Although one of the greatest aspects of HL is physics puzzles, figuring these out will keep some of them away (also there are these giant pile drivers that keep the antlions about 10 feet away from you).

 

I really wish they'd included the Hydra from the old screenshots, that would've been the deep dish pizza:D

[RC-1162]

thanks, RJM. i cant wait to use the boomey things. and the zombies just before the "water hazard" level sure as hell scared the crapp outta me, especially when they popped out of the sludge. i was so scared, i rammed the 'sprint' button and ran all the way to the end of that place

[Lantzen]

Just the gravity gun make the game worth buying, really love that gun. Have went throgh Rawenholm just using it, numerous times.

[RC-1162]

i'm about to start ravenholm. i just got past the gate that the robot dog holds up and saved the game. what can i expect to encounter?

@RJM, i tried the "impulse 101" but it doesnt work. any help?

[Ztalker]

^^^

Alex said:

"We don't go there anymore."

It has a reason. Quit a good one realy.

 

I won't spoilt anything, let's just say....:

Gravity Gun + Circle Saw blades + zombies = FUN

 

@stinger: whats a Strider?

 

Remember the Tripods from war of the worlds? They stole that idea. Striders are the original 3-legged monsters... http://www.hlportal.de/images/content/hl2/enemies/strider.jpg

 

[stoffe]

(striders aren't spiders, they have three legs, arachnids have eight. headcrabs aren't spiders, they have four legs, as do antlions (the sandbeetles). But isn't that the whole point, to scare the crap out of you?

 

From the screenshots and in-game movies I've seen they are close enough, unfortunately.

 

There are good ways of getting scared, and bad ones. Spiders and spider-like creatures are definitely a bad one for someone like me. Arachnophobia is completely illogical and probably some form of mental short circuit, but even tiny harmless spiders, or creatures that reminds of spiders (with long spider-like legs) triggers it. It puts you in a state like if you were in grave danger with adrenaline pumping, cold shivers and heart racing. Not something you want to expose yourself to willingly.

 

Unfortunately this also works for spiderlike beings in movies and games, making me reluctant to buy games I know contain such creatures no matter how good they are otherwise. I can't watch the scenes with the Shelob in Lord of the Rings, I had to use the console to warp past The Sunspire (and other Pupae-infested areas) in Unreal, and I never finished Half-Life 1 due to that huge headcrab mother thing in Xen. Luckily the spiders in NWN and Spider Daedra in Oblivion could easily be removed with mods, so I could play those games.

 

If there are similar mods for handicapped people like me available for Half-Life 2 I'd feel a lot better about getting and playing that game.

 

i'm about to start ravenholm. i just got past the gate that the robot dog holds up and saved the game. what can i expect to encounter?

 

Judging by the movie I watched that place is filled with hordes of rather gory-looking headcrabbed zombies.

[Lantzen]

So you can't watch Starship troppers? The Antilions look a lot like the bugs from that movie

 

RC, a tip. Try to use the gravity gun a lot in Rawenholm, if you playing on a higher difficult, you dont have so much bullets

[RC-1162]

nah, i just used Impulse 101, it works now. i literally DESTROYED the zombies with the RPG launcher but i've just finished half of it and up till now, it damn near freaked me out. i just use the SMG and fire at the zombies' heads at random.

[igyman]

You aren't telling me that you can't finish the game for the first time without using cheat codes?

[RC-1162]

actually, i can, but it's a lot funner with cheats

[igyman]

Trust me on this - never use cheats when playing a game for the first time, it kills all the fun and you can't stop using them. Finish the game without them, it's a lot more fun and a bigger challenge. If you want to do it again after that, then use cheats.

[stoffe]

Trust me on this - never use cheats when playing a game for the first time, it kills all the fun and you can't stop using them.

 

Unless you dislike the standard FPS concept of handing out the weapons one at a time as the game progresses, usually giving out the most fun weapons near the end when the game is pretty much over and you won't have much opportunity to play with them. Don't know if HL2 follows that concept though.

 

Some cheats can make difficult games more enjoyable if you aren't a harcore gamer, depending on the type of game and nature of the cheat. If a game is too difficult on my first playthrough I tend to favor using cheats rather than stop playing in frustration.

[Mace MacLeod]

Well, HL2 gives out almost all the weaps (including the admittedly super-fun gravity gun) in the first few levels, so no trouble there.

 

As a general rule, I will only use cheats if I'm REALLY stuck or if I'm getting past some outlandishly sadistic jumping puzzle. There are very, very few times nowadays where I have to resort to cheat codes to get by in an FPS, and I agree with igyman about using them on the first playthrough. I always try to remember that any decent developer (and Valve is one of, if not THE best in the business) will not paint gamers into a corner. There's always a way through the difficult areas, the key is just finding it. HL2 is pretty linear and doesn't feature many jumping puzzles (which I hate with a burning passion) and IMHO is almost perfectly balanced re: medkits, ammo, charging stations, and bad guys so you really shouldn't need to resort to cheat codes just to get through.

 

As for the arachnophobic reaction to headcrabs, antlions and striders...well, if you can't get past that you're more or less SOL in this game. Particularly in Ravenholm, the hippie commune decimated by headcrab invasion. The Combine obviously gets a big break on the price when they buy headcrabs in bulk from the manufacturer, because that area is packed to the brim with the damn things. Turn a corner, and you will find headcrabs. Open a door, more headcrabs. Blast open a wall, and chances are very good that headcrabs will be awaiting your arrival. Pretty much like every dark, dank underground area in HL2. Sorry.

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

@RC, What did you do wrong?

 

@Stoffe, There is a part of the game where some friendly antlions follow you and attack whatever you tell them to.

 

You just need someone to hold you tight while ya play:D

[RC-1162]

actually, i suffer from arachnophobia too, that's why i used impulse 101 and buddha mode to kill the headcrabs ASAP. the black versions of the damn things seriously reminds me of the spider that almost bit me when i was 10.

*shudders*

[Ztalker]

Imo, Half Life 2's gameplay is this good for the way the weapons are spread across the game.

Doing Ravenholme with nothing more then a magnum/shotgun will freak you out...the slow reload...the quick movement of the zombies...*shudders*

 

btw..

When you enter

The Citadel

stop using cheats. That level is created for the gravity gun. It will have some 'extra power' then. You'll enjoy it, believe me!

[RC-1162]

heh, i know what the gravity gun is capable of i picked up a cirsular saw blade lying around in Ravenholm with it and sent it top speed into a zombie. minced zombie flesh ready to go