HL2 EP2: Grey Mod.

[Kreekakon]

I DECIDED TO PAY A VISIT TO THE METH DEALERS IN A BASEMENT BECAUSE IT WAS ALONG THE QUICKEST ROUTE HOME.

AFTER THEY TURNED VIOLENT AND DEALT ME A MULTITUDE OF ENTRY WOUNDS WITH SHARP OBJECTS I DECIDED TO EXPLORE A SEWER BECAUSE IT WAS ALONG THE QUICKEST ROUTE HOME.

Oh come on, don' blame the dude, he knows as well as you, and me that there is another viable, logical way to go home. It is only that with my deepest, and greatest regrets that that all the other doors are locked, and that all the power tools on the floor evade his fingers.

Guess it's off to the quickest route then.

EDIT:

In your eyes, some will enjoy it and just because a game has jumpscares doesn't mean that it's bad, jump scares can be done well and are often great when done well.
And this game does them fairly well.

*Turns off sarcasm mode*

Yeah, from what I've seen so far, the game does handle its jump scares pretty good.

[the dark side]

i am really, really sorry if this comes across as seriously Ar**y, but, have you ever done any modding sexbad? i have,. some time ago now, only really texture stuff, but, beleive me, it is very hard work. especially when you have no budget what so ever, and a very antiquated game engine to work with (im talking GLDSRC here!).

perhaps it is just me, but id rather play something that has the gameplay i like, and manages to be real good fun for me, than something i find totally unplayable, Rage was unplayable for me, cry of fear, for all its myriad problems, actually gave me some "good times" quite a lot actually. so, i rank it as better. yes, it is inexcuseable to do something badly, it can be better to not do it at all than to do it badly, but, i personally think they have got there core mechanics correct, there is a lot of promise in the games, something you dont get with the sausaged minced AAA titles.

yes, there lack of budget does mean they get a lot of things wrong, the lack of plot is a severe issue, even with me, as a plot writer myself i do like to have one in a game, i like to know WHY im doing something. and the AI is abysmal, as i said, how hard is it to programme a Logic System that makes them try to avoid getting pwned?. but it gets the CORE things right, the level design is good, the art style is unique, the combat is exactly the kind i love to play and get a real kick out of, and yes, although it IS jumpscare, its good jumpscare because it genuinely has gotten a "AAAAHHHHHHH! WHAT THE F----WAS THAT!" out of me! (someting i only really used to get from Ps1 Resident Evil) wich is more than i can say for 90% of the Mainstream AAA titles made since 2006!

if you dont like the game, thats ok, we all like different things and we all hate different things, after all, you like rage, and i thaught it was "utterpantski", but please, allow those of us who do like these little mods and think the dev team has some real promise, the right to like the game, think they have promise, and suggest them some improvements for the future.

[Kreekakon]

Sexbad has not said anything which was unreasonable as of far. He was merely expressing his opinion on the game/mod, even if it was a little harsh. When mods are made you aren't supposed to think "Dawh, he worked so hard on the mod, it would be wrong of me to point out his very obvious flaws." We are supposed to think up of criticism, and out thoughts on the game as honestly as we can.

Also, the dev team should actually be proud that we are willing to delve so deeply into observing the mod. It means that they have done a great job on it in parts more than one, and that we are willing to view it in a more in-depth, and thorough manner.

[Streetboat]

Seems that everything in this mod would be a lot scarier with a little more context. What the hell are the monsters, anyways? Why are we suddenly set loose in a world devoid of human life? How do we even know things are even wrong after we initially leave the bathroom and a lobby is empty? More story conveyance would have made this go from average to excellent.

[the dark side]

of course, perhaps my modding history is making me overreact. sorry about that, my main critiscims, are, Lack Of Story, Lack Of Context, Abysmal AI, and the odd bug or glitch.

however, i am willing to cut them slack because the Core of the game is correct, as i have always said, you can have the greatest videogame story ever written, but if your core mechanics are wrong, then its wasted. if you're core gameplay is wrong, your entire game is wrong.

this little mod team has got a great core to there game, sure, its not enough to make it a great game, but its enough to make it a a good, fun, game, wich is a real acheivment when you consider a lot of the mainstream AAA developers are churning out nothing but abysmal, baseline unplayable, tosh, despite having over 30 times the budget that is available to the modders, at least. having a great core is 75% of the battle to me, as i beleive gameplay is everything.

all they need to do is write some better AI, learn to craft a great story to hinge context around the game, its charachters, its world, and its monsters, and do some better playtesting, and i genuinely think we will have a future great Dev on our hands.

the big issue i see is they have made the mistake of "doing an Activision", they have made the game, all its levels, its monsters, its setpeices, yadda, and then created a flimsy little story to tie it all together.

That is NOT a good way to make an involving game. I run on the "Hideo Kojima" school of game storywriting, in that you create the plotline first, then you populate it with charachters, who you flesh out with emotions, thaughts, back-stories, personalities, etc, to create your "Story" (how the plotline affects the charachters), then you create the setpeices that tie the plot together.

I think if the devs can learn to do it like that, then there next mod will probably be something REALLY special.

[Kreekakon]

I just finished playing through my first run of the campaign. Here's what I think:

Graphics: I love what they've done here There are tons, and tons of new content, and almost looks like it's its own game. Rarely do you see so much new content in a mod. The mapping is also done really well. there's quite a lot of detail in many places.

Gameplay: This should probably fall into two segments: Combat, and Puzzles.

The combat in short...it has too many weapons, given the length of the mod you will be unable to utilize them all successfully. The guns are okay in this aspect, and you should be able to find uses for them always, although you'll be using the pistol the most due to its abundance of ammo. The melee weapons however are way too many. The Sledge hammer is useless, and once you get the knife, I doubt you'll be using any other melee weapon.

Now onto the puzzles: I actually enjoyed them quite a lot. There aren't that many, but all have their solutions hidden subtlety in places which aren't extremely hard to find if you try. Best part is they will make you feel like a genius when you solve them, which is what I think puzzles should always have implanted in some form.

Horror Aspect: I have to say the opening segment of the mod is one of the creepiest things I've ever played for some time. It set up as a great taster for what might have followed. After the game starts the front half will start to build-up more, and more as you figure out something is wrong with your world; I thought this was done well too, even if it did have jumpscares (Which were effective ones BTW).

However after the mod passed its halfway point...I don't know. the sense of tension was all, but gone. There weren't even any mildly disturbing moments anymore. I can't help, but feel the developers just rushed out the ending segment without putting much thought to it. To make matters worse, the plot, and buildup was never resolved, at least not in my book. Which brings us to the next part.

Plot: Oh man, oh god, oh man. I don't even know where to start with the plot of this mod. It is obviously the greatest con in the entire mod. I did not find the story gripping. Motivation was very weak throughout.

For the entire first half of the story, you have no idea what you are doing. You aren't even given a basic premise to go on about. You are left with nothing to wander the streets. And, no, the deep-novel like text segments in loading don't help.

When you do get to the plot however, I feel like there's little that's intriguing from what I could see. Plot-wise there is hardly no buildup, no answers given which open more questions. I felt like the ending was especially anti-climatic. That's my least favorite part of the mod. I'm not sure if the alternate ending would change my mind, but I think that's irrelevant. I think a good game should be able to draw a satisfactory point at the end of your first play-through, much like how you should feel after you've watch a movie for the first time at the theater. In here, the game just cuts off at the end. No nothing. it just leaves me with a blank feeling, and that's not a good thing.

Verdict: Excellent graphics, with a fairly decent horror aspect which unfortunately falls flat after the first half. The story though is the main bummer in Grey: 6.5/10

[Robby]

The story though is the main bummer in Grey.

The story is the most important part of a game. Regardless of graphics.

Remember the mod called "Mistake and Mistake -1" for Half Life (same creator as Grey)? You were thrown into an asylum like place all of a sudden, not knowing anything. But as you played, the story built up. I understood it was basically a mental patient going through his own fantasy world. Now that made total sense.

In Grey, you were thrown into a dark, empty world, and there wasn't really much going on. The story came up in fragments, and I was unable to process it completely. I was left clueless at the end. I didn't really understand the story.

So, yeah, story's important, not graphics!

If somebody agrees, +1 to me. (Not forcing you, just sharing an opinion).

[Kreekakon]

In Grey, you were thrown into a dark, empty world, and there wasn't really much going on. The story came up in fragments, and I was unable to process it completely. I was left clueless at the end. I didn't really understand the story.

So, yeah, story's important, not graphics!

Story is most important, but graphics help shape an intriguing world which is also very important, but in the end story still wins in importance.

[Robby]

In Grey, you were thrown into a dark, empty world, and there wasn't really much going on. The story came up in fragments, and I was unable to process it completely. I was left clueless at the end. I didn't really understand the story.

So, yeah, story's important, not graphics!

Story is most important, but graphics help shape an intriguing world which is also very important, but in the end story still wins in importance.

Exactly. Focus on the story first, then on graphics.

[the dark side]

Indeed, they seem to have "done an Activision". basically they have created the spectacle first, and then written, at speed, the most bare bones Possible Story to tie all the spectacular bits together. the problem is, many so called "professional tutorials" (HAH! i think not!) say "this is what you need to do".

its not a Good way to create your game, but its also not a good idea to focuss on your story over your game, or you end up contracting "Hideo Kojima Disease". and have loads of beautifully crafted story told by Feature Length cutscenes joined together by short, albiet still beautifully crafted gameplay segments.

what you need to do is do what Monolith Did with the First NOLF, and balance the 2, first your create your Plotline , who is whom, were they go and why, and what happens to them. then you create the gameplay to fit inside that plotline, then you create the story, you flush out who those people are, what happened in there childhoods that makes them who they are today, how what happens in the game, to them and the world in general, Affects them Emotionally, what personality "quirks" they may have, etc, and then, and ONLY then do you work on creating all the spectacular effects and graphical eye candy. that is the correct way, IMO, to make a game.