It's been several days since I actually sat down and played. Part of that has to do with other things going on in my life and part of that has to do with sheer frustration at how difficult Blast Pit has been for me. But actually thinking about what I'm doing has given me a plan on how I'm going to complete this level.

After turning on the electricity I began to back track with a big problem of health. For some reason I decided to walk through some electrified water and lost a lot of health. But I got back across this collapsible platform:



This put me right back near the room with the Green Monster. I went back up a level, careful to crawl my way through and not die. Back on the second level I found another door and fortunately was able to break it with the crowbar and get through it without dying. After killing an alien I found a couple of boxes that had some much needed health. After a couple of ladders I realized I was down near the fuel room. I got down a long ladder resembling a manhole in a NYC street. I found my way down to some long pipes surrounded by water. There were some bullsquids and several blocked passages.

Yes, I know I'm still in Blast Pit, but I feel like I finally have a sense of direction. I'm going to find my way to turn on the fuel and then make my way back to the original control room, and send that Green Monster into orbit.

The one picture was the only screenshot I was able to get. I thought I had some other good shots but apparently I didn't. More to come very soon.

Here's a couple of screenshots from my last adventure in Blast Pit.

My post will be without pictures tonight, I have several, but blogger is not being cooperative, so I'll try to be as descriptive as I can.

When I left off I was still in Blast Pit. I had somehow made it past the Green Monster without killing it. I had made it to the bottom of the big room and through a few collapsing bridges. I made it past another room or two that had pools of the radioactive ooze. I was on a lift that was unsteady, jumped across to a ladder and went to the bottom.

Basically now I've climbed a few ladders in a similar type room that the monster was in. There are some fast moving platforms that keep going from one side of the room to the other. At the top of the room is a suspended platform that sort of looks like a spaceship. There is a scientist stuck at the top and on either side is a red button that launches some long metal arms that come towards the tower, there is also lightning/lasers that shoot out from it.

Now what this has to do with anything, I'm not sure. I don't know how to get down or if I'm supposed to get back and kill the monster. Frankly I'm a little frustrated and don't know where to go next.

Any assistance or suggestions will be appreciated.

When I left off, I had just seen a scientist demolished by a 3 headed scary green monster.



I heard through the grapevine that I wasn't going to be able to kill this monster by traditional means of using my ammo. I was also determined to figure this one out on my own, so I did my best to escape the wrath and enter the room. Of course after about half a dozen times of dying, I had to really analyze what the heck was going on.



It seemed like every time I launched a grenade the creature would move and if I was crawling or crouched, it didn't seem to bother me. I kept going down levels because I saw a bunch of ladders. The bottom level had a door way so I aimed for that while continuously launching grenades. I crawled to the next to the bottom level and ran for the door way.

So I escaped the creature but I don't think that can be considered a success because I didn't kill it. I got a little further around some falling pathways by running and making long leaps, and also killed a few small creatures.



After clearing a couple of doors and killing a bullsquid, I got to this room with a lift.



This is where I ended the night.



The lift takes you down, but there doesn't really seem like a way to escape. There is a ladder on the far wall, but you'd have to climb on a ledge of the lift and try to make a jump and that didn't seem to work.

I really feel like I missed something. I'm also out of rifle ammo and grenades :(

/perplexed

Most of the time when I stop playing Half-Life it's when I'm "stuck" at a point and can't go any further. Usually this comes with frustration and I struggle to know what exactly I was to do next. This was the point I had left off the last time.



I was scaling pipes and moving around, trying to avoid the radioactive ooze and trying not to get killed by bullsquids. I couldn't quite reach a platform that I was trying to jump on, but finally figured out that I was jumping from a lower pipe and needed to be jumping from a higher pipe. So after a nice running jump I had made it to the desired platform.



After getting some ammo and health packets I made it to another big open room with a pool of ooze and another bullsquid or two to kill. After scaling a long pipe I made it to a moving lift that took me a long distance upward. I was careful to look for falling headcrabs, but there were none to speak of here.

I can't remember the exact sequence of events but this wasn't an area where scientist were having a good time.





After rounding another corner I had my first truly "holy shit" moment of Half-Life up until this point.



After being totally shocked by another poor scientist being owned, I stopped. I haven't faced a monster like this before so I don't know if or how I will kill this one or if I can just escape like I've done so in the past. I'm currently out of machine gun ammo, but still have some shotgun shells and grenades.

Speaking of mechanics, I comfortably played with WASD and think this was the first time that I wasn't really thinking about the keys and how to move. I was just doing it and that let me focus a lot more on the game, instead of how to play it. I'm really looking forward to what's coming next.

So, it's been several days since I've gotten to play. I thought I'd get going with Blast Pit and have an easy go of it. For the most part it was. I got past some pesky head crabs and into this large open room with a platform and an elevator that leads down a large empty shaft.



As I was traveling down the shaft (um ...) I was careful to watch for falling objects. I assumed it would be like the last time and I would have to deal with falling head crabs. Luckily not the case. I did however have to make my way down a very long path that looked like an abandoned train line.



I took care of some head crabs and the bullsquids that shoot the green ooze. I was impressed that I had gotten better with my weaponry. I didn't have much trouble flipping between weapons and remembering to reload.

After what seemed like several minutes of walking I came upon a large area with a pool of green (at least I hope it's supposed to be green, the colors on my monitor could be bad) ooze that I remember from training was not something I wanted to go swimming in.




I crawled around on some pipes, moving up and down some ladders. Killed some more of the ooze monsters.



I got to a pipe and saw a platform that looked like the way out but I couldn't get over to it. So as I do most times, I got frustrated and stopped.

It was a small amount of progress, but at least it was some. I think I have the keys down, not perfect, but a lot better than it was. I still used WASD tonight and used the left side cntrl key for crouching. I'm also much better looking around with the mouse. Having the mechanics down sure goes a long way for increasing the enjoyment of the game.

As always ... a lot more to come!