A Radical Change in Direction
Some of you may see this image and wonder what I'm talking about. I've made a decision that may lose me some blog readers, but it was something I felt like I had to do after reading some of the responders to my last post. I started Half-Life over.
After the God Mode fiasco and thinking over these many months of struggling with this game I debated on whether or not to scrap the whole idea of playing and moving on to Half-Life 2. I considered stopping this game all together and moving on to something else. I also considered just forgetting FPS and going back to my console sports games that I love like NCAA Football 2009. But then I realized it's August 2008. I've devoted 8 months to learning to play FPS games and Half-Life. Now granted I wasted a lot of time, cut corners, didn't play with audio sometimes, used the keyboard wrong. In essence I don't think I learned the right way.
So, I played through the training level again. This time I was using all the correct keys and I moved through it with great ease when last time it took me several days.
I also started Analmous (sp?) Materials over with playing on medium. I got the hazard suit in a matter of seconds after watching the train ride all the way through again. I want a greater appreciation for this game by going back through and seeing how much I actually learned the first time through.
For some of you that wanted to see me finish, well this may have set me back a lot of time, but it's still something I'm determined to do. I think this time through will be more fun because I'll remember things that frustrated the heck out of me the last time. And I'll get to the end levels, eventually, after playing through the first half of the game all over again.
For those of you that read this post and understand my decision I appreciate it. I had lost sight of what I was actually doing and was just playing to be playing. That's why I could go 3 weeks without a post and not think anything of it. Now I can take the game in small steps, get through sections a lot faster, and hopefully have an overall better gaming experience.
I hope most of you who read stick around. I promise to make it exciting.
Labels: fps, half-life, improvement, starting over, tough decisions
11 Comments:
I think it's great that you're starting over again. I hope you enjoy yourself more this time through and are able to move through the game at a better pace and not get so frustrated.
Keep it up! I'm still really liking this blog.
...but you should still play and update more. :P
Kickass, and best of luck. I'll still be reading. (:
Yeah, I agree, it's good that you're going back to the start to actually enjoy it :)
Plus, by the time you get to the part you were at last time, your skills will have improved even more!
I look forward to reading about you playing HL2 though, just cos I think it's a more fun game with fewer frustratingly hard sections that HL1 has. I think in general, the harder parts of HL2 are just more fun, so it's less of a burden to play them over if you fail.
Awesome! Trust me, beating a game like this (especially considering how difficult it can be) is intensely satisfying. Not something to take trivially.
Yay game!
I think you'll be surprised at how easy parts that used to be hard are. And how hard some parts still are. (The bunker near your first screenshot in http://www.howdoiplaygame.com/2008/06/is-it-ever-going-to-end.html is still hard for me, even though I've been playing FPSs since Wolfenstein 3-D.)
It's more interesting to see you figure out how to get through the game, but if you get too frustrated, let us know; we can help.
I take back any negative comment I've previously posted! You've completely reinvigorated my interest in your blog and I'm glad you made this decision.
One replay tip: This time around, since you have a feel for the controls now and have played through the levels, try to keep your eye out for the "G-Man", aka the man in the suit. He's everywhere in the game and adds a lot of atmosphere/creepiness. Makes you question what is really happening in Black Mesa....
I think you made a good decision and will now not only learn to play the game, but learn to have fun doing it!
Save often, don't be ashamed to go back and tackle a fight again if you come through it 9/10 dead, and keep us posted! :D
The only thing I have to add from what everone else said is that you should feel able to switch back to Easy mode if need be. Some of the later levels will be difficult.
Good luck, and I'll still be reading! :)
Glad you are still dedicated to finishing, and I don't think anyone could criticise you for starting again, I hope God mode is now deactivated though, the challenge of fighting through Black Mesa is a large part of the fun for me (If I'm 100% honest I would have stopped reading had you continued your godly ways).
Your blog has been a rollercoaster seen through a lens I lost a long time ago, keep up the good work.
Yeah, best of luck man, I'll be reading. Your adventures are still very interesting to me :-)
I think the bottom line is you should have fun playing the game. Don't worry about losing blog readers as you are the one playing the game.
I'll still keep up with your blog though :)
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