I was hoping I was about to find the end of On a Rail, but I've hit a spot that I can't get out of.

Here are the screenshots:





In the second shot, I'm in an area with a moving cart. I can't move forward because there is a gate that is down and no way to make it go up. From above some soldiers are owning me with ammo and grenades. In the first shot are boxes that I cannot jump over or destroy with grenades or stationary trip mines. On the other side of the boxes is a staircase that I think would somehow lead me up to where the soliders are and perhaps will give me some way to get past the downed gate.

Somebody experienced with Half-Life help me out here please!

I have no screenshots, but I did want to make a post since I did play some this past weekend. However, we are in the process of moving, so my access to the computer and significant play time has been limited.

Still moving through On a Rail, hoping this level will end soon, it's starting to have a Blast Pit type of feeling, but perhaps I'm getting towards the end. There were two particular spots I got bogged down here. The first was involving a soldier firing continuous shots at me from a stationary gun, behind a fortified wall. I used the "det pack" here and although it took me a couple of practice runs, I finally made it through.

After clearing this I got through a big double door into a room with a big rocket which I had run into before. I'm sure this is a key element to this levels storyline, but I haven't quite figured that out yet. After making my way down the ladders around the rocket, I got back on one of the moving carts. This led me down some tracks to another area where I kept getting owned. Another soldier was at this stationary rocket launching station that was shooting some fast moving powerful ammo at me. This was one of those areas that I managed to get past strictly as a fluke. Moving quickly past while ducking I was able to avoid the ammo and kill the solider. I made a post on shacknews about this, concerning whether I should have gone back and figured out how I was supposed to kill that guy, or just move on. I decided to move on. I didn't make it much further due to coming up on a place with several of those "electricity" shooting creatures. I wasn't able to get my shots off fast enough without dying so I stopped there.

I will keep playing this week as I get time. I know 6 months is a long time to devote to a game, but I am determined to get through this. More posts as I play.

After a 3 week layoff I started moving through On a Rail tonight. I think with this post I'll be doing a little less re-telling of the story, which I know most of the readers of this blog already know, and tell a little more about my experience and some continuing issues.

First, my screen shots:







Basically I rode around a little bit and sometimes when I saw directional signs (orange arrows) I would shoot them. I killed some poison spitters, eyed some dead soldiers and was able to add to my weapons and get some help. Things I'm still not doing well is reacting quickly, figuring out what weapon to use for which particular enemy, and reacting quickly. I said that twice on purpose because that's my biggest problem. I ended tonight with Gordon and the cart going up an elevator and getting pwned by a soldier up ahead. I could not shoot quick enough and reload to be able to kill the soldier without getting killed.

I was able at an earlier point to be able to kill one of those stationary laser shooter thingies that used to pwn me by tossing a grenade and backing away.

Now that I'm typing this, maybe alt-fire would be good here. I only ever use it when
I right click on accident. Perhaps even if I don't play that much should blog more. Just by typing out my thoughts, I'm thinking through things better than when I actually am playing.

Perhaps this is the motivation that I'm lacking ... we'll see.

More later.

I don't know if I've hit a rut or what but I'm only able to take Half-Life in small doses these days. I guess the cumbersomeness (if that's a word) of the levels is more than I care to take on for more than a few minutes at the time. Tonight I tried to get a little farther into Power Up. I re-started not on my quick save but at the previous save before that because my last quick save had me at no ammo and only "4" health.

I can't even remember a lot of details as I wasn't able to get any screen shots to work. Basically, I darted through the room with the mini boss, past some head crabs, aliens, electric shooters ... etc. I found myself in a toxic room and up a couple of ladders. Some soldiers and the stationary laser shooters were owning me as I made my way up. But I did see a soldier getting dragged under a crawl space by something with crab arms. The next level up I couldn't get past one of the stationary shooters before giving up.

I consider it progress because I saved in a different place than where I started. I know it's slow, but it's still moving forward.

Perhaps I'll get my motivation back soon.

Today was my first attempt at moving into power up, starting here:



I realize that this new monster will be difficult to kill, similar to the three headed monster from Blast Pit. So I didn't stop and waste my ammo trying to kill it. I moved forward through the room, to the left I noticed a track with a flat-bed car that wouldn't move when I tried to engage it. So I made it to another opening and killed a few creatures that shot electricity in previous levels.

After killing some of them I found a room with a collapsible walkway.



In the room was some much needed ammo. Through another door was a hurt soldier and some much needed armor. Unfortunately there was no health :(



At the other end of the room was a lever that moved when I engaged it and there stood the monster. So I'm assuming the lever did something, something perhaps that the dying soldier was to have told me. Unfortunately I wasn't playing with sound tonight which I know will get me lots of ribbing from blog readers. I'm not out of the room yet, but I will go back and listen to what the soldier has to say as I'm sure it's an important clue.

This is where I stopped:



I hope for more game play tomorrow.

I'm not just blindly playing this level. I'm sure there are multiple parts to it like Blast Pit, so I'm keeping an open mind. I don't have much health so I hope I don't have to go a long way like I did in Blast Pit on a small amount.

Thank you to those of you that have been patient during my hiatus. I was on vacation some, and for a while I lost my interest in half-life I'm sorry to say. Tonight I sat down I tried to pick up where I left off, but I think it's going to take some practice and dedication to do it.

This was my starting spot tonight:



I am STILL in blast pit, trying to find the next thing to turn on to go back and kill the big green monster. I killed some aliens after going down the stairs ahead and started down the following grate:



At the bottom of the grate were some long pipes and water, as well as several metal bars blocking passages:



After killing some bullsquids and moving back and forth during different passages I really don't know what to do next. Most passages are blocked by metal bars and I don't have any grenades. I'm sure this means that I must back track to find some, but re-starting tonight I really didn't get back into it full force.

I pledge to work on playing more this week and by the end of the week I hope to get out of blast pit. I think if I do this, the game will pick up in excitement for me.

Thanks again to those that have stuck with the blog during my time away.

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 found a much needed energy source and had just slain a new type of creature that a blog reader identified as a bullsquid. I thought maybe my next step was to swim my way out again, but in the greenish/brown sewer looking liquid did not provide a way out. In fact, I kept getting lifted out of the water by some mechanical blades and chopped to pieces. So ... I found a door that led me through a maze like area and then up a couple of ladders. I found my self above some boxes that were suspended from the ceiling.





This "box jumping" helped me reflect back on the training area where I had to run and jump, do a little crouching, and of course, fall to my untimely death multiple times. I did manage to get across the boxes and back through another maze area and ended up on what looked like the other side of the big room where I slayed the bullsquid. I found myself in a big elevator, got the message that I was entering the "office complex" and entered that area. I found a medical pack on the ground, at least I thought it was this as my health went up a little bit. A laser type thing came down from the ceiling and immediately zapped me.



I stopped here because no matter how I tried to get around that laser I kept dying. Crouching and running, running fast, jumping ... nothing worked. So I stopped.

I'm not grasping the big picture of where exactly I'm going in this game but I hope I'm not backtracking. Wasn't the office complex where this all started? We'll see if I can figure my way around this next time and figure out where exactly I'm going.

My years of exclusively playing sports games are causing some pretty frustrating challenges in this my first FPS experience. I had a good hour or so to play tonight but really didn't get as far as I was wanting to. I did make a little progress, getting around by climbing in some lab windows, even moving a chair to climb up a ledge and get through a vent. I was able to re-charge my energy a couple of times, wack a few aliens with the crowbar, and found another distressed security guard to get another gun.

As I got through a few broken doors I came upon some small crab-looking alien creatures that jumped around and shot some more laser-ring beams that kept zapping my energy. My trouble came with trying to jump/shoot/move without getting myself killed. I didn't have much ammo, so I didn't know whether to waste it on these small creatures, or just try to run away from them. I would concentrate on shooting but couldn't move out of the way of the lasers, and would get zapped. I tried moving around but while I was trying to find my way out of the area I'd wait too long and get zapped.

Although my progress wasn't as much as I was hoping, I did manage to think a little and get around in more unconventional manners. I thank the shackers and blog readers for their continued good advice. I'm going to get the hang of this game!

Tonight was my first time for any game play since the end of last week. Last time I played the Test Lab had just blown up, and I found the scientists bloody and the place a mess.

Well ... nothing new to report. I tried to maneuver my way out of the area and didn't get very far. I left the test lab area and kept trying to move my way around, took the elevator back up and was basically just trying to figure out what to do next. As I got off the elevator, I understood that I was actually backtracking from when I first went to the test-lab, but I didn't know where else to go. The only door I could find kept saying "Access Denied" in this deep mechanical voice. The others side of the door looked like another "monitoring room" of some sort.

So basically, I'm barely into game play and already feel like I'm stuck. Maybe somebody obviously wiser than me can give me some pointers as to what to do. I'm trying not too look and sound so obviously ignorant to the world of game play, but how am I supposed to enjoy the game if I can't even do something simple like get myself out of a "stuck" scenario.

Oh well, I feel like I'm not starting out of the right foot.

I'll give it another try tomorrow, but as mentioned, any advice would be appreciated.

Buenos Noches

ok, so I made it to the test chamber, trying to pay attention and listen to instructions.

I've realized that most of the scientists and security guards are just fluff in the game when I try and talk to them and don't get anything other than "don't bother me until after the experiment"

so I make it to the test chamber, still trying to figure out what exactly is going on. I do realize that I'm either some scrub employee that's being sent into the Lion's Den or I'm some key ingredient to an important experiment.

I go in the room, up a ladder and and push on a computer and the room starts spinning and lights and lasers start going off like an amusement park ride or something. Everything seems to be going well. I hear some instructions but still don't quite know what's going on. After five minutes of the same stuff and me just standing there, I think I should get down off the ladder. So I do, and I find this little moveable robot thing on the lower level and realize that I can push it. Now I think that that was actually part of the instructions. So I push it towards the middle machine monster laser looking thing and all hell breaks loose. Old man scientists are screaming, shit is falling down every where, the room goes black, big noises. I swear I see visions of some sort of alien creatures.

I get excited because I think I'm about to start shooting something, but then realize that I haven't seen any ammo or weapons yet ... then "unforseen circumstances" scrolls across the screen.

As I'm talking to pupismyname I'm realizing that the story is still being set up for me ... so the lights come back on and I make my way out of the test chamber. I see everybody else is pretty messed up, scientists and security guards are laying around bleeding. I see alien creatures in these glass case test tube things ...

... and then I have to stop for the night.

For some reason I'm getting motion sickness with this game. I don't know if I'm focusing too hard or what but it's the same feeling I get when I try to read in the car. I get dizzy and my head starts to hurt. I hope this doesn't continue to be a problem or I'm in for a rough ride. I remember years ago playing Wolfenstien 3D and getting the same feeling. So maybe I have to figure that out before I get too far into the game and really mess myself up.

Oh well ...

To my faithful blog readers: The weekend is approaching and I will be out of town for part of it, so if you don't see a post, please don't be concerned/irritated/frustrated. I assure you I will be posting when I do have time for gameplay. I've discovered this will be a good way for me to remember the experience, instead of just playing the game.

Adios

I played for 10 whole minutes last night. Got off the train, started moving around, started opening doors and wondering through. I figured out I was supposed to be looking for this test chamber. Scientists and security guards were talking to me but I didn't have the sound up and wasn't really listening.

Found a "break room" with vending machines and stuff ... wtf?
Found a men's restroom with feet under the stalls ... wtf?
Found a room with a suit that looks like I'm supposed to get it but I couldn't figure out how to get it from behind the glass.

Found a door, but a security guard wouldn't let me through because I didn't have a suit on.

Got frustrated and exited for the night.

Talked to pupismyname and he told me that I have to talk to people and listen. Guess I still have a lot to learn.

more to come ...