Half life 1 is surprising easier then Black Mesa

[Naho-Garou]

I just found it interesting!

[Garrec]

Half-Life 1 is indeed easier. It's also a lot more fun. The combat is more tactical too, you can get a lot more mileage out of grenades, tripmines, satchels, and snarks. Especially snarks, they're tons of fun. Stealth actually works against soldiers. Lots of ways to approach combat.

Black Mesa tries to make everything hard. Bullsquids can take half your health with a single acid volley. Houndeyes are lightning fast and their attacks can't be canceled without outright killing them. Soldiers can see through walls and strafe run with perfect accuracy, no matter how far away they are. They don't chase you into tripmines and satchels, or at least nowhere near as often as HL1. The stealth mechanic is almost nonexistent.

[jacob123443211]

I actually thought black mesa was a lot easier than the original Half-Life.

[MRP]

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors. First, enemies on hard difficulty are way more spongy. Like, HECU grunt can take 2/3 of SMG clip before dies. Same zombies - like, 4 shots with shotgun from mid distanse, seriously? With is pain in later chapter, when ammo become scarce. Second, majority of enemies are hitscanners, so when you fight, you usually trade damage, and only consistent tactic is breaking line of sight, because they have pin point accuracy. Next is weird damage calculation for some enemies. If you have 10 armor, Vorts lighting does 1/3 base damage, but when you have zero, they can kill you in two shots. Next is later chapters, or reather - how low ammo game give you in lambda complex and later. You realy need count every bullets, especialy when you surrounded by controllers and vorts. Speaking of vorts - they beams are broken. They can hit you before animations of "casting spell" ends. And they are hitscanners, despite they lighting attack having clearly visible animation, that you should avoid.

[Cat]

Originally posted by Naho-Garou:

I just found it interesting!

what

[Naho-Garou]

Originally posted by MRP:

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors. First, enemies on hard difficulty are way more spongy. Like, HECU grunt can take 2/3 of SMG clip before dies. Same zombies - like, 4 shots with shotgun from mid distanse, seriously? With is pain in later chapter, when ammo become scarce. Second, majority of enemies are hitscanners, so when you fight, you usually trade damage, and only consistent tactic is breaking line of sight, because they have pin point accuracy. Next is weird damage calculation for some enemies. If you have 10 armor, Vorts lighting does 1/3 base damage, but when you have zero, they can kill you in two shots. Next is later chapters, or reather - how low ammo game give you in lambda complex and later. You realy need count every bullets, especialy when you surrounded by controllers and vorts. Speaking of vorts - they beams are broken. They can hit you before animations of "casting spell" ends. And they are hitscanners, despite they lighting attack having clearly visible animation, that you should avoid.

I mostly play games on easy because I feel a bit more comfortable that way except Metroid, DOOM and SMT cause I play them in either on normal or hard but Black Mesa’s easiest difficulty is normal while Half Life just has easy but you’re probably right about Half Life 1 being harder then Black Mesa

[Naho-Garou]

Originally posted by Cat:

Originally posted by Naho-Garou:

I just found it interesting!

what

https://youtu.be/M9J6DKJXoKk?si=tXEOw-vcHsccudOG

[Garrec]

Originally posted by MRP:

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors.

The shotgun is short range. Don't use at medium, it wastes ammo. Against zombies, walk up and blast them in the head, point blank.

I don't understand the hitscan complaint. It's the same, if not worse Black Mesa. Black Mesa soldiers also have pinpoint accuracy and deal lots more damage at close range.

Half-Life soldiers aren't that bullet spongy. SMG is one of the weaker weapons if you're not using its grenades. Aim for headshots. Magnum and crossbow headshots are instant kill, two hits for body shots. Point blank double shotgun headshot is instant kill. Tripmine, satchel, and SMG grenade are also instant kills.

Armor is super important in HL. More valuable than health for the amount of points.

Vorts charge their attack more quickly on hard. If you see them charging, take cover immediately. If you get hit, it's usually your own fault.

Hive-hand helps in Lambda Core if you need to conserve ammo. Good to have on weapon swap, just don't rely on it for direct combat. A secondary attack volley is about as good as a shotgun blast, even works at long range. Useful against barnacles, headcrabs, and vorts. It'll regen ammo while you dodge their lightning.

[Rastrelly]

Originally posted by MRP:

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors. First, enemies on hard difficulty are way more spongy. Like, HECU grunt can take 2/3 of SMG clip before dies. Same zombies - like, 4 shots with shotgun from mid distanse, seriously? With is pain in later chapter, when ammo become scarce. Second, majority of enemies are hitscanners, so when you fight, you usually trade damage, and only consistent tactic is breaking line of sight, because they have pin point accuracy. Next is weird damage calculation for some enemies. If you have 10 armor, Vorts lighting does 1/3 base damage, but when you have zero, they can kill you in two shots. Next is later chapters, or reather - how low ammo game give you in lambda complex and later. You realy need count every bullets, especialy when you surrounded by controllers and vorts. Speaking of vorts - they beams are broken. They can hit you before animations of "casting spell" ends. And they are hitscanners, despite they lighting attack having clearly visible animation, that you should avoid.

HECUs die from colt headshots like flies. Also they are susceptible to mines and good grenade use. Zombies die to a single shotgun doubleblast.
BM has equal amount of hitscanners, but those hitscanners can attack you almost nonstop. In original HL you just need to properly use cover and attack them on reloads or when they change their positions. Plus most fights can indeed be initiated from stealth.
Armour management is the core element of gameplay in original HL, yes. When armour has no power you are exteremely vulnerable. That's kinda the point.
After you get the hive hand you are intended to use it for all the lowlevel threats like barnacles, headcrabs, etc., plus you can take out many higher level enemies with it.
And no, you should not be able to avoid a lightning that moves with the speed of light. As was said above, if the vort STARTS casting, you already need to know where to cover.

[MRP]

Originally posted by Garrec:

Originally posted by MRP:

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors.

The shotgun is short range. Don't use at medium, it wastes ammo. Against zombies, walk up and blast them in the head, point blank.

I don't understand the hitscan complaint. It's the same, if not worse Black Mesa. Black Mesa soldiers also have pinpoint accuracy and deal lots more damage at close range.

Half-Life soldiers aren't that bullet spongy. SMG is one of the weaker weapons if you're not using its grenades. Aim for headshots. Magnum and crossbow headshots are instant kill, two hits for body shots. Point blank double shotgun headshot is instant kill. Tripmine, satchel, and SMG grenade are also instant kills.

Armor is super important in HL. More valuable than health for the amount of points.

Vorts charge their attack more quickly on hard. If you see them charging, take cover immediately. If you get hit, it's usually your own fault.

Hive-hand helps in Lambda Core if you need to conserve ammo. Good to have on weapon swap, just don't rely on it for direct combat. A secondary attack volley is about as good as a shotgun blast, even works at long range. Useful against barnacles, headcrabs, and vorts. It'll regen ammo while you dodge their lightning.

Dude, don't. Don't do this. Don't patronize me, don't treat me like noob, don't try explain to me one of my favorite games. Ill also use tactics described by you, in both games, and guess what - it makes gameplay in BM much easier than in HL.

Ill try to be crystal clear in my opinion. I base my expierience on Hard difficulty in both games. Normal is way less challanging for me.

The main argument why HL is harder than BM is that enemies are way more spongy in first game. Thats a fact. I need less bullet from SMG in BM than in HL to kill grunt. And btw, Use this weapon and enemy for example to prove my point, not because i try to kil them with smg. It easier to check ammo for comparison. Another good example is controller - you need THREE shots from .357 to kill one. Way too much for my taste. Atleast they attack is easly avoidable

Spongy enemies are connected to hitscanner problem. Beacause when you fight with hitscanners you traiding damage. And when enemies have more HP, you need expose yourself for firefight and take more damage. You waste more resources. And no, in BM they dont have pin point accuracy, I can easly dance around Hgrunt and avoid their fire in two first seconds of fight.

Vorts beam is out off sync. They shoot lighting before attack animation ends. If you dont know this, you will suffer alot, mainly because your muscle memory kicks in and force you to act in specific way.

Also, off top. Hitscannig in fps is the worst kind of gunplay. I know only two games, that do hitscann right - first Blood and F.E.A.R. Every other one - garbage. Same is in HL - this game is iconic, influential and fun, but never in my entire life I heard someone who thinks that gunplay is good. Also difficulty level have design mistakes - just crank number, more damage, better reaction, less healing, less armor. Playing on normal is fun, but too easy. Playing on Hard is frustraiting and painfull, but atlest there is more challange

[Garrec]

The alien controller is spongy, I'll give it that.

The point I'm trying to make is that HL gives you all the tools to succeed, to the point where you can clear tons of enemies without losing health at all. Not from being lucky, but from using the right weapons for the job and not exposing yourself to unnecessary danger.

You said takes you 2/3 of a SMG mag to kill a HECU soldier. That's basically my experience in BM. Sometimes you can kill them faster if you're in a better position to make headshots. Yet the same is true in HL. Relatively speaking, both games are nearly identical in that aspect. So criticizing HL while praising BM doesn't make sense.

As I said before, the hitscanner problem is the same in BM. Okay, you can kill a HECU soldier twice as quickly in BM than in HL. But BM has twice as many HECU soldiers as HL does per encounter. Meanwhile BM still has hitscanning weapons that deal just as much damage as HL, if not more at close range. Again, you're just trading numbers. Different sides of the equation are emphasized in each game.

I wouldn't say HL's gunplay is amazing either. What makes it fun is the variety of tactics you can employ. You can succeed by paying attention, outsmarting the enemy, and that's what makes it fun and satisfying. At least for me. BM lacks most of these tactics. BM favors run-and-gun gameplay over tactics. A fight that goes wrong in BM is going to strip more of your health than a bad fight in HL. BM's level design intentionally forces you into encounters that are far more dangerous than HL. That's what makes BM harder than HL.

[Naho-Garou]

Originally posted by Garrec:

The alien controller is spongy, I'll give it that.

The point I'm trying to make is that HL gives you all the tools to succeed, to the point where you can clear tons of enemies without losing health at all. Not from being lucky, but from using the right weapons for the job and not exposing yourself to unnecessary danger.

You said takes you 2/3 of a SMG mag to kill a HECU soldier. That's basically my experience in BM. Sometimes you can kill them faster if you're in a better position to make headshots. Yet the same is true in HL. Relatively speaking, both games are nearly identical in that aspect. So criticizing HL while praising BM doesn't make sense.

As I said before, the hitscanner problem is the same in BM. Okay, you can kill a HECU soldier twice as quickly in BM than in HL. But BM has twice as many HECU soldiers as HL does per encounter. Meanwhile BM still has hitscanning weapons that deal just as much damage as HL, if not more at close range. Again, you're just trading numbers. Different sides of the equation are emphasized in each game.

I wouldn't say HL's gunplay is amazing either. What makes it fun is the variety of tactics you can employ. You can succeed by paying attention, outsmarting the enemy, and that's what makes it fun and satisfying. At least for me. BM lacks most of these tactics. BM favors run-and-gun gameplay over tactics. A fight that goes wrong in BM is going to strip more of your health than a bad fight in HL. BM's level design intentionally forces you into encounters that are far more dangerous than HL. That's what makes BM harder than HL.

Really good explanation! (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡

[Force]

Originally posted by MRP:

I dissagre. I found HL being much harder than Black Mesa, mainly because several factors. First, enemies on hard difficulty are way more spongy. Like, HECU grunt can take 2/3 of SMG clip before dies. Same zombies - like, 4 shots with shotgun from mid distanse, seriously? With is pain in later chapter, when ammo become scarce. Second, majority of enemies are hitscanners, so when you fight, you usually trade damage, and only consistent tactic is breaking line of sight, because they have pin point accuracy. Next is weird damage calculation for some enemies. If you have 10 armor, Vorts lighting does 1/3 base damage, but when you have zero, they can kill you in two shots. Next is later chapters, or reather - how low ammo game give you in lambda complex and later. You realy need count every bullets, especialy when you surrounded by controllers and vorts. Speaking of vorts - they beams are broken. They can hit you before animations of "casting spell" ends. And they are hitscanners, despite they lighting attack having clearly visible animation, that you should avoid.

The goal of HL1 is to run shoot and survive. Nothing is forcing you to kill every zombie on sight.

[Ffabbia]

Both games reward different kinds of playstyle, and despite visual similarities play very differently.

The original rewards cautious, slower, tactical play. By using stealth, careful sniping and sneak shooting it's possible to get the drop on most in-game enemies. Most of the few in-game bosses can be 'tricked' or exploited in such a manner as to allow you to defeat them without taking any damage.

Black Mesa is more tuned for 'modern audiences' who like to rush around running and gunning at breakneck speed and it's much harder to play it in the 'slow cautious/stealth' manner I described above as marines are almost aimbot-like with their super accurate fire and always know where you are, making much more difficult to get the drop on them, turning most firefights into wars of attrition. There is no real way of 'exploiting' bosses either - you just have to duke it out with them or obey the dev's intended mechanics.