Half-Life: Alyx (VR)

lmao that looks trash, "this mod, it's working, it's playable" and a few minutes later "hmm, for some reason our gun isnt here, oh heres another hack to get invisible half life 2 weapons"

 

Still needs a bit of work.

 

Just played the mod for a bit, turns out I was completely right. Any challenge or fun is completely removed, environments are flat and boring. On the plus side, I'm looking forward to seeing people try to convince themselves they're having as much fun as everyone else playing it in VR.

 

^^^Watching that video was quite jarring to see the game in 2d pancake mode, sent shivers down my back, just horrible. Lol

 

A good summary by Cohh, and the VR versus 2D experience, 5 mins. He's done a full playthough but don't watch it else spoilers!

 

Well, Valve commented recently that this was not HL3 because they didn't want it to be catered to a small audience. They want HL3 to be something all players can experience, not just a title for a niche market.

That being said, I will say, I have no issues with people who love VR enjoying this game. That's fine, that's great even.
It's great they like it, and it's great Valve delivered a VR experience those people find worth while.

But, sorry to say, some do need to get past this idea that those against VR... "haven't used it". I know plenty of people who have used VR, and dislike it. I myself have used it... and I prefer playing games the normal way.
Doesn't mean either side is wrong, and there's nothing wrong with Half-Life fans being disappointed that the next installment in the series, coming 12 years later... is only available to some and not all. It's understandable, but the counter of telling them "go buy a VR unit" is a bit short sighted.

Not everyone can afford to drop that amount of money just to play one game.


I'm serious, @SSJBillClinton I'm thrilled your enjoyed the game. I love it when people find a game they love, even if I don't like it.
And, I'm meaning for it to sound like I'm knocking Valve for making a business move in trying to push their own VR device into the market. Yes, they made a VR unit, and yes they made a VR title... that just happens to be set in a series that made the studio what it is. And something fans have been begging for for years.

I'm personally either holding out for a solid, stable... (non-commentary) playthrough I can watch, or the mouse+keyboard mod.
Because, I'm not hugely interested in it from a gameplay view... I'm interested for the story.

 

I have stopped playing HL:A on my CV1 as i have a Quest coming, so i am looking forward to its higher per eye screen res and the new lens with the god ray effect gone, and it is difficult because the game is just breathtaking in vr, but i have had to force myself back on The Walking Dead and hope the Quest appears sometime this week.......but if this Quest with the link cable is as good as the reviews then it will replace all my vr hmds......and i can live with that as i jumping from the cv1 to the Vive and unplugging everything is getting old. Lol

 

Just out of interest: at what point is it okay for Valve to create a blockbluster VR Half-Life spinoff? Because the way I see it, that point is "whenever they feel like it". Yes, I would've preferred if they'd finished the Half-Life saga for frack's sake, but I can't knock the company for putting two and two together with their VR knowledge and interesting franchises.

 

Yeah, it's obvious that they did it to push the Index. Seems many gamers don't want to see a profit-driven narrative - they preferring the idea that Valve is spearheading the VR industry for the benefit of everyone.

Valve could have very easily released a KB+M version of Alyx (with adjusted difficulty and puzzles) alongside a VR version. The only reason they didn't is because they wanted to push sales of their headset. The idea that the game can only be good with VR is also downright foolish - Half-Life never needed VR to be good and there is no reason why it would be necessary now.

 

Bugger it, i could not stop playing it so i just got up to my first gun upgrade station, now i realise i will have to start the game again as i was not looking for resin as i had been in such awe of the game around me that i must have missed some training bits, as i stood on the intial balcony with the citidel towering wayyyy up into the sky over me, and spent time just throwing cans at pigeons who were landing on the roof and picking everything up or fiddling with the radio, so i must of missed the resin bit as i just found one up on a high shelf inside a box, after i found a floppy disk for £4.99 with 50 games on it, which i then spend 25 mins trying to set up a PC and monitor from the junk that was scattered about to try and insert the floppy into, although they all seem to have cd rom drives but no floppy drive, rich buggers. lol

But game immersion is just off the scale, i mean it has rasied the bar for VR gaming, and the tactile feedback you get from that gun through the vr controllers is awesome, and i am playing it on the CV1, but Valve have done not only a fantastic job in supporting all the other vr headsets, but they have implemented so many options, from full motion to teleport, and all work intuitively no matter the hardware, just amazing, so i hope they make a mint out of this because i not only want more but i want them to make HL2VR, free update or paid, i would grab it either way in a heartbeat.

 

Just watched a playthrough of Chapter 7, no freakin' way i could play that.

 

^^Oh i assume Ch7 is spooky, can't wait, although the first torn open and bloodied dead bodies you find in this game are just horrific to say the least, moreso when you are looking at them in such personal detail, i mean VR really does allow you to see what the graphic artists in these games are doing when you can see their hard work in such VR detail, the headcrabs have never looks so horrible or threating as when they are jumpinmg towards you, but i guess that is why they call it virtual reality, thankfully i only virtually soil myself due to it. lol

 

What about when the game is literally made to take advantage of what VR does well? It'd be more foolish to split resources across VR and m+b to cater to people complaining, instead of creating a fantastic experience for the rest of us who can actually get excited for new things.
Inb4 a repeat of the same 3 sentences worded differently.

If you'd said that from the start, then I would have understood your view ages ago. Going in with the m+kb mod expecting to play the same fun game is going to be incredibly disappointing for everyone, a modder could technically rework the whole game, but you're not going to be playing the same thing.

Anyway, not aimed at anyone in particular, gonna take a break from this site now since it's mostly just negativity and bickering non-procreating-stop no matter the topic lol, and there's more important things going on currently, and trying to convince people a game they've not played is good is not one of them.

 

Reading through these comments it's almost like we're not allowed to use a Mod to play this game series the way we always played it.

Like: "No no, this is not allowed, you MUST buy a VR Headset, deal with it!"

How about the rest of you deal with the fact that Mods are a thing and let other play the way they enjoy it?

 

Talking about mods i just realised this game has Steam workshop support, that is going to be just awesome, wait until we see some of the VR mods that are made for this game, i can actually see someone making a mod that will allow the games VR engine to run HL2 in VR with it....come on modders, make this happen, you know you want to. lol

 

A new FakeFactory mod of Alyx.

 

Already happened

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/heres-half-life-2-running-in-vr-using-half-life-alyxs-engine/

Works surprisingly well it seems!

 

^^^OMG!...it's happening.

I got up to the bit where you have to find a torch before you can go any further, and of course it is stuck on a corpse that is ripped open with stuff sticking out its chest, at the end of a long dark room, and this was my Citizen Kane "rosebud" moment when you are looking at the hanging figure silloutted by a dimmly lit grate behind it as it is held up by some of the vilest looking organic moving blobs i have yet to encounter in a VR game....just amazing, and for the first time ever i had to stop because with the VR, visuals, effects and the audio, it just rips your nerves to bits......there is a reason they call it virtual reality. lol

Just a amazing game the further i get into it.

 

lol.....brilliant.