Don't you think XEN is definitely too long?

[vese91]

I mean, it's a pretty cool re-styling but I find it simply too long (it is almost half of the entire game) and repetitive ... what you think?

[Kolibria]

No :)

[Mid-Boss]

Literally just finished the game a few minutes ago, and yes.

Good game, but god yes. It's WAY too long.

[Citizen⁵]

Long, maybe. But it's no more repetitive than the rest of the game.

[Cylixx]

It's just interloper.

The series of puzzles that aren't quite difficult enough to be puzzles.

Endless conveyors. It breaks your brain. Causes mental fatigue.

If anything needed a full conceptual redesign, it was that bit. Nihilanth's redesign was epic, but it wasn't just the boss that people felt underwhelmed by in HL1. It was the lead up to the boss.

[vese91]

The initial part was really good, but as soon as you reach that sort of Vortigaunts camp it starts to be really confusing and spamming the same puzzle sections over and over again ...

[Apocryphox]

In my opinion the only level from Xen is Interloper that was annoying and too long. I almost spended 2-3 hours for this chapter while the other was maybe 1.5 hours and except the ending and beginning of this chapter the whole industrial area felt the same. It looked good with all the lights and stuff but if you peak around the corner after 2 hours fighting in the same looking area and the other big room looks like the 10 rooms before you just say "Aw, no. Please not again."
And in my opinion the end of Interloper was a bit too hard. It was almost harder for me than the boss itself.

[Combat Wombat]

the whole game got stretched out to much

[Power and Wealth]

I think the game is perfect the way it is, maybe a bit on the easy side, could certainly have used some more complex puzzles and harder combat situation. As for the length, I found best to simply put the game down and do something else and than come back later, rather than pointing the proverbial gun at the back of my head and forcing myself to finish the game in one go.

[pRopaaNS]

Nothing gets too long if it's fun. The flaws there is things other than length. Xen looks great, yes. But gameplay at times gets too repetitive and/or crude.

Platforming is not as fun as it would look written on paper. Sliding off edges by accident, longjumping in random directions by accident, longjump not working when running up a slope. Strafing being for some reason impaired in xen, thus can't correct/adjust yourself mid air. Just can't get a full and crisp control over your movement. Which makes platforming gameplay feel crude and thus something that you want to eventually get over with.

Then issue with gunplay in Interloper. In half of it don't even need to use guns, while in other half the gluon gun takes almost all of the action through. Because other guns drops off as unviable for more reasons than just difficulty. Now when I think about it, this issue starts from entering xen, because as you play through it more and more guns drops off as just unsuited for anything.

[Retcon Rob]

I hate to say it but, yes. I'm somewhere deep in the Interloper mission and I am getting so bored. I don't know where I am, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing. I just keep moving forward, doing endless jumping puzzles and shooting endless bad guys, hoping I reach the end soon.

[vese91]

Originally posted by JohnnyNoArms:

I hate to say it but, yes. I'm somewhere deep in the Interloper mission and I am getting so bored. I don't know where I am, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing. I just keep moving forward, doing endless jumping puzzles and shooting endless bad guys, hoping I reach the end soon.

I really don't know why they put such useless sections

[KriKitBoNeZ]

Originally posted by vese91:

I really don't know why they put such useless sections

Which sections are useful?

[Power and Wealth]

Originally posted by JohnnyNoArms:

I hate to say it but, yes. I'm somewhere deep in the Interloper mission and I am getting so bored. I don't know where I am, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing. I just keep moving forward, doing endless jumping puzzles and shooting endless bad guys, hoping I reach the end soon.

Then take a break instead of forceing yoursel to continue? Clearly you don't want to continue playing, then why not take a break and come back at a later date when you are feeling more interested?
Nobody is forcing you to finish the game, you can take a break and come back later, the game won't vanish and the save function works. <3

[vese91]

Originally posted by Archaos the Mad Bro:

Then take a break instead of forceing yoursel to continue? Clearly you don't want to continue playing, then why not take a break and come back at a later date when you are feeling more interested?
Nobody is forcing you to finish the game, you can take a break and come back later, the game won't vanish and the save function works. <3

You're trolling, right?

[vese91]

Originally posted by KriKitBoNeZ:

Which sections are useful?

Useless in the sense that the game could have ended way before it does, and the experience would have been overall better without that tedious factory section just before Nihilanth