Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Cheeky Devlin » Tue Mar 31, 2020 6:28 pm

Yeah I've been as careful as I can to avoid spoilers, though a Youtube video title I saw did reveal that there is a HL3 tease at the end, but apart from that I'm going in pretty blind.

Managed a quick 20 minutes to see how it plays (I've not got the optimal space set up just now) and....

Oh my :wub:

Got as far as getting to the first "Area" of the game so I've had brief play with the gloves catching mechanic and it's really fun.

Even with a basic Oculus Rift it looks lovely. The finger tracking isn't anywhere near as detailed as the Index (Obviously) but I like just how physically you are interacting with the world. Your hands not going through objects for example. It's a small touch, but it really works well.

The brief walks through City 17 so far have been really cool and the VR really nails that sense of immersion in this oppressive, totalitarian society.

I'm going to strawberry floating love this game. :wub:

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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Tue Mar 31, 2020 8:04 pm

Finished chapter 6. It's hit a proper rhythm now, and it feels so good, always keeping me wanting to just play another 10 minutes. It's getting really hard to tear myself away. Ammo is more plentiful now, and the weapon upgrades feel really useful, but not necessary, like I've reached the point where I'm picking and choosing upgrades, rather than feeling like I have to pick up each one. They feel like actual choices, rather than just moving along a weapon progression path.

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Cheeky Devlin » Tue Mar 31, 2020 11:11 pm

A little bit further on and I've just encountered my first Headcrab.

I know I'm getting better with the "Horror" aspects of games when it disappeared as soon as I saw it and I didn't immediately "nope" the strawberry float out. :datass:

I was a big brave boy until I had to change clip just as it was about to pounce on me and I waved my hand about like a tit.

The tension in the section before that is amazing as well, moving through the train cars, dealing with the Zombies.

It's crazy that a developer who hasn't made ANYTHING like this in almost a decade (Portal 2 would be the closest thing I guess) can just come back to it and it feels like they've never been gone. It's remarkable.

Even the interaction with the world is insanely detailed and natural.

This is looking like it could be a very early GOTY contender for me and I'm less than an hour in. :wub:

If I had to make any complaints, its that I've had one severe bug that made me reload a save (I lost the ability to pick things up) and one full crash to desktop. I've got it on the highest fidelity settings and so far it seems to run fine there, but I might drop it down.

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Victor Mildew » Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:00 am

Glad you're enjoying it Devlin. :wub:

There are some properly scary (well they were to me) bits in there, but mostly the fear comes from the incredible atmosphere.

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:25 am

Victor Mildew wrote:Glad you're enjoying it Devlin. :wub:

There are some properly scary (well they were to me) bits in there, but mostly the fear comes from the incredible atmosphere.

Scariest moment for me so far was in the middle of a firefight, I'm crouching behind some cover, trying to reload and use a health syringe, when suddenly my wife starts talking to me, without me having heard her walk into the room, and scared the gooseberry fool out of me. I actually fell over. :lol:

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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CitizenErased
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by CitizenErased » Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:37 pm

Cheeky Devlin wrote:I've had one severe bug that made me reload a save (I lost the ability to pick things up) and one full crash to desktop. I've got it on the highest fidelity settings and so far it seems to run fine there, but I might drop it down.


Yeah I've had some bugs too, doubt it's to do with what graphic settings you're on and more to do with patching required.

Knoyleo wrote:
Victor Mildew wrote:Glad you're enjoying it Devlin. :wub:

There are some properly scary (well they were to me) bits in there, but mostly the fear comes from the incredible atmosphere.

Scariest moment for me so far was in the middle of a firefight, I'm crouching behind some cover, trying to reload and use a health syringe, when suddenly my wife starts talking to me, without me having heard her walk into the room, and scared the gooseberry fool out of me. I actually fell over. :lol:


Oh one of my biggest fears playing this is somebody coming into the room IRL and scaring the gooseberry fool out of me too :lol:

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Victor Mildew » Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:49 pm

I keep the door shut, mostly.so I don't walk in to it, but also so I can't be snuck up on. I warned the wife about it saying while I was playing this, there's a very real chance of me shitting it and hitting her (by accident).

I'd love to have seen how strawberry floating stupid I looked sitting on my pc, and when I got scared, shouted ARGHHH and curled up in to a ball :lol:

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:03 pm

Chapter 7: Jeff :dread:

That moment when you first roll up the door, and he comes charging at you, I totally froze up, and started trying to punch him in the head, as he started vomiting blood all over me like something out of 28 Days Later. :lol: :dread:

Bit disappointed that it doesn't look like you can kill/incapacitate him, despite there being opportunities to do so, like throwing a bottle off the edge of a walkway there the hand rail was missing, for instance. I'm sure you "deal" with him later on, but it would be cool if the game let you dispatch him another way as well.

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Cheeky Devlin » Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:38 pm

Well into Chapter 3 and absolutely adoring this so far. Shotgun is nice and meaty, but ammo is scarce enough that I can't rely on it too much.

The armoured headcrabs can strawberry float off though. Weakspot is a pain to hit sometimes.

I've gotten to the point where there's some corpse strung up in the light in a big dark basement area with what looks like a progression item strapped to it....

That's enough of this game for one night I think. :lol:

I will say that I think they're doing the same thing with this as they did with Episode 1, which is a long extended sequence underground in the dark. I'd quite like to get into more outdoor areas soon.

I loved the visit to the Vortigaunts home and the discussion about freeing his people. Mostly I loved the mural outside, where it tells the story of the Vortigaunts all the way up to the end of HL2.

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Lagamorph
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Lagamorph » Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:43 pm

I find the shotgun to be quite fiddly. More than once I've grabbed the end then the pull either doesn't register at all, or the gun actually pulls sidewards as of I was just moving it.

Lagamorph's Underwater Photography Thread
Zellery wrote:Good post Lagamorph.
Turboman wrote:Lagomorph..... Is ..... Right
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OldSoulCyborg
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by OldSoulCyborg » Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:12 pm

Chapter 5:
So, electro dog... I thought there was more than one in that laundry room, but apparently it just takes that many shots to kill? Damn.

Or I'm just a really bad shot. Also damn.


Not had it totally spoiled, but definitely not looking forward to this 'Jeff'.

p.s. Almost solved the audio latency issue playing with the Quest through Virtual Desktop. Found out that the latency on my in-ear, bluetooth headphones is significantly less than I get through the Quest itself. It's still noticable if I even think of it, but it's not nearly as distracting as before.

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Victor Mildew » Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:42 am

Lagamorph wrote:I find the shotgun to be quite fiddly. More than once I've grabbed the end then the pull either doesn't register at all, or the gun actually pulls sidewards as of I was just moving it.


I've never had trouble with the gun hand, but my left had sometimes sticks in the grip state, meaning I can't let go of things. Benign the menu up fixed it, and luckily it only happend in general play and not during a firefight.

Little tip you may not have noticed, is the pistol reflex sight can be used to scan enemies on the floor to se if they're really dead or playing dead. Living things like headcrabs show as orange. Also, the scope shows weak points on some enemies.

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:18 am

OldSoulCyborg wrote:Chapter 5:
So, electro dog... I thought there was more than one in that laundry room, but apparently it just takes that many shots to kill? Damn.

Or I'm just a really bad shot. Also damn.

Removed, thinking of wrong encounter

Last edited by Knoyleo on Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Victor Mildew » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:46 am

He's not at that bit yet...

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:07 am

Edit: gooseberry fool, forgot that isn't the first encounter, removed

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Victor Mildew » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:11 am

Knoyleo wrote:
Victor Mildew wrote:He's not at that bit yet...

Same attack pattern, no? I just felt that first encounter didn't do a great job of teaching you that there are periods where they're invulnerable, which is really useful to know for... later.


The first encounter is just the creature on it's own in the laundry room. I don't think you see it go in to a body until a side room later. I wasn't being a dick by the way, I just didn't want him having just done that bit, to read that and lose the surprise. When you fight 3 or 4 of them in that basement area :dread:

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:16 am

Victor Mildew wrote:The first encounter is just the creature on it's own in the laundry room. I don't think you see it go in to a body until a side room later. I wasn't being a dick by the way, I just didn't want him having just done that bit, to read that and lose the surprise. When you fight 3 or 4 of them in that basement area :dread:

Yeah, totally forgot the first one. :fp: That basement fight was a nightmare. Amazingly, there are only 2 of them that you're fighting. I had to try for ages, and it took a few goes before I realised they were invulnerable during their attack animation. :dread:

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Lagamorph
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Lagamorph » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:40 am

Victor Mildew wrote:
Lagamorph wrote:I find the shotgun to be quite fiddly. More than once I've grabbed the end then the pull either doesn't register at all, or the gun actually pulls sidewards as of I was just moving it.


I've never had trouble with the gun hand, but my left had sometimes sticks in the grip state, meaning I can't let go of things. Benign the menu up fixed it, and luckily it only happend in general play and not during a firefight.

Little tip you may not have noticed, is the pistol reflex sight can be used to scan enemies on the floor to se if they're really dead or playing dead. Living things like headcrabs show as orange. Also, the scope shows weak points on some enemies.

Not all enemies are highlighted in this way mind. The poison headcrabs aren't highlighted by the pistol reflex sight at all.

Lagamorph's Underwater Photography Thread
Zellery wrote:Good post Lagamorph.
Turboman wrote:Lagomorph..... Is ..... Right
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Knoyleo
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Knoyleo » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:35 am

Lagamorph wrote:
Victor Mildew wrote:
Lagamorph wrote:I find the shotgun to be quite fiddly. More than once I've grabbed the end then the pull either doesn't register at all, or the gun actually pulls sidewards as of I was just moving it.


I've never had trouble with the gun hand, but my left had sometimes sticks in the grip state, meaning I can't let go of things. Benign the menu up fixed it, and luckily it only happend in general play and not during a firefight.

Little tip you may not have noticed, is the pistol reflex sight can be used to scan enemies on the floor to se if they're really dead or playing dead. Living things like headcrabs show as orange. Also, the scope shows weak points on some enemies.

Not all enemies are highlighted in this way mind. The poison headcrabs aren't highlighted by the pistol reflex sight at all.

Only their undersides are.

pjbetman wrote:That's the stupidest thing ive ever read on here i think.
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Lagamorph
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PostRe: Half-Life: Alyx l Quarantine In City 17
by Lagamorph » Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:45 pm

Knoyleo wrote:
Lagamorph wrote:
Victor Mildew wrote:
Lagamorph wrote:I find the shotgun to be quite fiddly. More than once I've grabbed the end then the pull either doesn't register at all, or the gun actually pulls sidewards as of I was just moving it.


I've never had trouble with the gun hand, but my left had sometimes sticks in the grip state, meaning I can't let go of things. Benign the menu up fixed it, and luckily it only happend in general play and not during a firefight.

Little tip you may not have noticed, is the pistol reflex sight can be used to scan enemies on the floor to se if they're really dead or playing dead. Living things like headcrabs show as orange. Also, the scope shows weak points on some enemies.

Not all enemies are highlighted in this way mind. The poison headcrabs aren't highlighted by the pistol reflex sight at all.

Only their undersides are.

That's the armoured ones.

Lagamorph's Underwater Photography Thread
Zellery wrote:Good post Lagamorph.
Turboman wrote:Lagomorph..... Is ..... Right

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