I only had a very short amount of time to play yesterday, but I was still pleased with what I did given the short amount of time. When I left off I had just entered Office Complex. It was dark and there was electricity coming from the ceiling. I didn't immediately remember what path I was to take but I did remember some surrounding offices and storage rooms that probably had clues that I needed. After a brief little bit I found an electrical switch and remembered that this was something that tripped me up last time. So after turning the power off I was able to move through with relative ease. I found some much needed health and continued on a little bit but my play was interrupted.

What I'm most pleased about is I don't spend more than a few seconds worrying about an obstacle. When I enter a room, if things don't immediately lay out in front of me, I'm immediately looking for doors and crawlspace openings. This has certainly helped to speed things up. Certainly helps in easing frustration.

Also, something else I didn't remember was whether or not it was good to break every box I see. I know in office complex I'll need boxes to be moved in order to get through some areas by climbing. But in the first part I just went about leisurely breaking boxes to see what was in them. I'm pretty sure I'm safe there in the beginning but I'll be a little careful the further I get.

No screenshots today because I didn't get the chance to send them to myself.

I hope to get to play again tonight.

I played through Unforseen Circumstances in one sitting tonight. To some this might not seem like a big deal, but to me it is a very big deal because it's the first time I've gone through an entire level of Half-Life at one time. I was proud that I remembered a lot more than I thought I would. Some of the puzzles that stumped me the last time, came back to me fairly quickly.

Instead of re-telling the story like I've done in previous posts, I'm going to spend more time telling what I did differently and how I felt about it. Most of the readers wouldn't be here if they didn't already know something about half-life, so re-telling a story that most people know seems a little redundant, especially since I already did that in the beginning.

When I picked up I was right where I left off before finding the crowbar. Yes it was right in front of the door, which I should have remembered. I realize now that the game doesn't provide an obstacle without a way around it. I killed head crabs and aliens with the crowbar. I remembered to go over to any dead or injured guard where I found the pistol and after bashing some boxes continued to get ammunition. I didn't bother trying to kill every creature, as I realize it isn't necessary and a waste of ammo.

There was a part when you head back to the entrance to Black Mesa where you have to crawl into a control room. After seeing a blocked pathway I knew there had to be a way out from that room and I remembered the vent. There was also the part where you have to jump down the shaft and turn on the water. It's to get past a blocked path. I remembered that the purpose was to get the water on to then be able to float back to the top on the other side. From there I had to get past the collapsible bridge, a water way where I had to push boxes in to crawl across, and then use my jumping skills to get across some suspended boxes. These were all things that gave me fits the first time through. Soon after that I was into office complex and very pleased with my progress for the night.

The first time through I honestly never used quickload. I never even knew what the key was. But I made sure to use it, especially if I took an injury hit that I knew I could have avoided. I was careful when to quicksave, mostly right after I re-filled health and not after every little bit.

I felt better about the experience as a whole. I felt like I had a better grasp on what I was doing and didn't get bogged down with stupid things like not being able to find the crowbar. I don't think I'm going to be able to clear levels in each sitting, but I know I can think my way through things instead of getting so frustrated.

I use the "It's a Marathon, not a Sprint" because I know at my skill level, this is a long process ... but with the right training like I feel like I got on my first try, I can perform a lot better.

Here are some screenshots: (I'll still post these as a way to track where I've been)

Well I started playing tonight thinking I was going to breeze right through the first couple of levels. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake and I was going to remember everything.

Here's what I remembered:
- You have to have a guard follow you to give you access to get down to the test chamber.
- You have to push the little robot man into the middle of the thing going on in the middle of the test chamber to cause whatever to happen to happen
- You don't lose any health during the explosion in the test chamber.
- When leaving the test chamber you have to have a scientist use the retinal scanner to let you out.

Things I didn't remember trying to play tonight:
- How to get the crowbar. I got owned by my first head crab and felt stupid about it.









This does not look good.

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.

I've gotten myself into a bit of a quandary with the whole "God Mode" issue. Now that it's on, I'm not quite sure how to turn it off. Now I've read and respect the opinions of the lifelong gamers on here and those that told me I should turn it off. But I've actually kind of enjoyed it. I've been able to play closer attention to what I'm doing and the story going on, instead of constantly getting owned by flying worms, stationary guns, and soldiers. I will turn it off once I figure out how, but what's wrong with just moving right on through and picking up what I can of the story.

I learned today that I'm on the 9th chapter of 18 total. I'm into my seventh month of playing this game and I'm only half way done. I don't want to stop playing (although it seems like I do when I take such long breaks between postings). I want to finish and perhaps just moving on through with invincibility is the way to go. I will listen to any arguments for or against this idea.

As for my play tonight, I moved through the first little bit of apprehension. It should be dubbed water world because that's all it seems to be. It's very detailed, lots of places to go, doors to open, things to figure out, plus the obstacle of swimming. Of course with god mode on I'm not dying, but I can only imagine how painful it would be for me to try and move through this level having to constantly go up for air.

Here are my screenshots:











The flying wormy squid things provided and interesting challenge. I noticed while swimming that there were several options as far as doors to go in with crates in the floor like similar places earlier in the game. I realize this is another puzzle level that I'm going to figure out. I just hope it comes easier than some of the previous chapters.

More to come ...

My intended long attempt at playing tonight was shortened by technical difficulties. But I did, finally ... get out of On a Rail. What I thought was to be a brief easy level turned into another two month journey.

At first I had one of my brain fart moments when I tried to back track and couldn't figure out exactly where I was to go next. I headed in what ended up being the correct direction, but thought that was where I had been. I guess that's a hazard of having such long breaks between playing.

So I left the open air area, found my way down a long ladder, into a room with some much needed ammo and on a train car that went whizzing through an area (into Apprehension) and then down into some water. I managed to quickly find my way into a tunnel and up some stairs. That's where the technical difficulties came in ... just as I'm getting a grove going, we lose our internet connection. So that was the end of my play session.

Here are a few screen shots. I'm thankful to be out of On a Rail and can only imagine what fun a level called "Apprehension" has in store for me.







Thanks as always for reading.