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Black Mesa >  Workshop > HECU Collective's Workshop > Black Mesa: Blue Shift > Discussions
Black Mesa: Blue Shift
Description Discussions135 Comments4046 Change Notes
Terradyn Nov 29, 2024 @ 2:57am
Xen is terrible, annoying and irritating
Xen was annoying and irritating AF. I dont know why game designer has this weird fetish in putting group of enemies jumping on you(this is sign of lame game design and lack of creativity). Xen is stressful, chaotic(in many areas I just did not know what to do and I had to check YT) and mess in general. I liked your Blue Shift till now. Constant lack of ammo in critical areas mainly at the end of chapter 5th where you are forced to use specific weapon because nazi regime is back? Why you can't let player decide what weapon he or she want to use like in the original Blue Shift. Games SHOULD BE FUN, not stressful AF. If I would want stress I will stay in the work longer. I don't even know at this time if I will gonna play last chapter and God. How many times I was blocked by terrain in fights. There is also too many lights and you just dont see, because levitating heads are shooting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of these orange balls, Xen warriors and Vortigons can jump to side in the same Fcking moment I press fire which is fcking brilliant idea(sarcasm). Also Locking areas and you cant go back more than 100 meters is also VERY BAD IDEA.I don't know who had this stupid idea and who allowed it, but guys. You should play original Half Life games again and ask yourself if level of stress and chaos in your mod is equal to original game. Probably in the name of philosophy if you can't make it better, then at least we can fck it up this Xen is pretty fcked up. Maybe you should return back on the ground with both feet. Not everything must be different and harder and annoying. Black Mesa was made brilliant. It was Half Llife, but different, but Your mod is very different than original game and there are no hints what to do in some areas(mainly on Xen).

Xen part 3/10 because it looks beautiful, but just thanks to Crowbar developers which set new standard for Xen(I love Black Mesa Xen). Everything else is just bad. I will stay with the original Blue Shift, because it's relaxing to play. Not like this Xen mess.

Sorry...
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Showing 16-18 of 18 comments
Hecatomb Jan 3 @ 8:58pm 
It is much too long, too grand in scale, and the combat becomes brutally difficult and tedious once the player encounters Alien Grunts and Controllers. Those enemies are a challenge if armed with the Gluon Gun and wearing a rechargeable HEV suit. There just isn't enough replacement armor to survive prolonged battles with large numbers of such enemies, and Barney doesn't have access to sufficiently powerful weapons. It also doesn't make sense in the context of the story for Barney to be fighting the sentient inhabitants of Xen and destroying entire fortresses. The escape from Black Mesa requires the focal device to remain operational until Chapter 7. But there is no way it can given that the intelligent aliens know where it is, and the devastation he causes them. They would surely retaliate. A single manta ray could obliterate it and the crystals in one pass. The entire chapter must therefore be a stealth mission where Barney only encounters Xen wildlife and possibly a few Vortigaunts, and escapes back to Earth without ever attracting the attention of the Xen Masters.

I think the best option would be for the tram system at the first base to lead directly to the focal point, and leave out the collapse of the energy crystal network. The other two-thirds of the chapter could be repurposed as the Opposing Force chapter 5, "We Are Not Alone." The epic battles against alien strongholds suits Corporal Shepherd far better than Calhoun. I'd also suggest turning the armored bullsquid into a melee enemy and removing its toxic artillary attack. That way, the challenge is to keep it at a distance in order to kill it with explosives even as it tries to close that distance. And lastly, get rid of the tiny tentacles and add a few full-size ones and hostile snarks.
#16
JustACitizen Jan 4 @ 7:56am 
While I agree with everything @hectacomb said, i didnt find it too hard really.
One important thing to note might be to check if it's possible to run from the controllers/flying brains and if possible to do so. Fits Barneys role very well and makes it a lot easier. e.g. after blowing up the big bubble / power core you can just ignore all the controllers / enemies and run straight back to camp. Also the time spent into the camp is quite minimal, only clearing the current controllers and possible spawned alien grunts and then jumping into the portal.

In the original it feels more like a quick dip into Xen to arrange for the teleports, while in the mod you start to feel like a space marine or similar.
#17
Sam_<3 Jan 8 @ 7:44pm 
Originally posted by intheloop16:
I couldn't disagree more, I'm having a hard time understanding how you could seriously get lost puzzle wise or think there were too many. Half Life has always partially been a puzzle focused game just as much as an FPS focused game. The ones that are present aren't exactly mentally taxing, especially the coordinates part which was easy as ♥♥♥♥ and may have taken me 15 seconds total. I can partially agree with the enemies thing though, I didn't personally struggle with any of the fights but I know I don't represent the majority here. They for sure could have used a quick balancing pass and tuned the numbers a bit

ill have to disagree with you here, the original half life DO NOT focus on puzzles, “Run. Think. Shoot. Live.” is the tagline for the game, This phrase encapsulates the gameplay experience where players must use their wits and COMBAT skills to survive and escape the Black Mesa Research Facility after a disastrous experiment causes a dimensional rift, leading to an alien invasion. The game is considered a classic in the FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER genre.
#18
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