Where was the blue-white tentacle thingy

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

Hi Folks,

Finished the game about 10 days ago. Like many, found the ending too
abrupt, as if the designers said - OK that's enough - keep the rest for HL3.

My question is this.....

In some of the pre-release videos of HL2 there was a blue-white tentacle
thingymajig, which grabbed a combine soldier as Freeman and Alex met up.

I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I played
normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on ultra-hard
difficulty selection?

Another ob:

When you compare the engines for HL2 and Far Cry on far-distant
landscapes/horizons - the Crytek engine was very much superior on detail and
generated distant landscapes.

I wonder if this is because HL2 design actually stopped in summer 2003,
before the leak. Far Cry was released early 2004 and for me is a league
ahead of the HL2 engine.

Just a pov.

Any comments on the blue tentacled thingymajig would be most appreciated.

I'd say Happy New Year(!) but our thoughts have to be with those surviving
the disaster.

Cheers

Roj Snee - Newcastle upon Tyne UK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

> When you compare the engines for HL2 and Far Cry on far-distant
> landscapes/horizons - the Crytek engine was very much superior on detail
and
> generated distant landscapes.
>
> I wonder if this is because HL2 design actually stopped in summer 2003,
> before the leak. Far Cry was released early 2004 and for me is a league
> ahead of the HL2 engine.

Did you ever play IGI 2? Released long before either of the above games.
Best distance detail I have seen in any game ever. And you can actually
walk further into that distance that you might think. The story is not that
good, but if into you are into stealth action games, it can be quite an
interesting challenge. It's probably available cheap by now, and there's a
demo out there somewhere.


Bob

"R SNEE" <rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:tO9Cd.558$v82.116@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Hi Folks,
>
> Finished the game about 10 days ago. Like many, found the ending too
> abrupt, as if the designers said - OK that's enough - keep the rest for
HL3.
>
> My question is this.....
>
> In some of the pre-release videos of HL2 there was a blue-white tentacle
> thingymajig, which grabbed a combine soldier as Freeman and Alex met up.
>
> I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I played
> normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on ultra-hard
> difficulty selection?
>
> Another ob:
>
> When you compare the engines for HL2 and Far Cry on far-distant
> landscapes/horizons - the Crytek engine was very much superior on detail
and
> generated distant landscapes.
>
> I wonder if this is because HL2 design actually stopped in summer 2003,
> before the leak. Far Cry was released early 2004 and for me is a league
> ahead of the HL2 engine.
>
> Just a pov.
>
> Any comments on the blue tentacled thingymajig would be most appreciated.
>
> I'd say Happy New Year(!) but our thoughts have to be with those surviving
> the disaster.
>
> Cheers
>
> Roj Snee - Newcastle upon Tyne UK
>
>

 

[Andrew]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 11:14:33 GMT, "R SNEE"
<rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I played
>normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on ultra-hard
>difficulty selection?

It was in the preview, not in the full game.

>When you compare the engines for HL2 and Far Cry on far-distant
>landscapes/horizons - the Crytek engine was very much superior on detail and
>generated distant landscapes.
>
>I wonder if this is because HL2 design actually stopped in summer 2003,
>before the leak. Far Cry was released early 2004 and for me is a league
>ahead of the HL2 engine.

I think HL2 was designed to run on a wide scale of hardware, so while
it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of FC and Doom 3, it has a
much lower minimum spec requirement and so appeals to far more people.
Personally I think they did a good job of creating an engine that
handles outdoor and indoor environments with similar performance with
an acceptable amount of eye candy for higher end cards.
--
Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost.> wrote in message
news:9fait0pglabsirlb17n837ntjl0hm9o5cj@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 11:14:33 GMT, "R SNEE"
> <rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I played
> >normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on ultra-hard
> >difficulty selection?
>
> It was in the preview, not in the full game.

This question regarding the hydra (the "blue-white tentacle thingy") is by
far the single most asked question with HL2.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"GFree" <nickt4001@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:41d9d1d3$1@yorrell.saard.net
> "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost.> wrote in message
> news:9fait0pglabsirlb17n837ntjl0hm9o5cj@4ax.com...
>> On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 11:14:33 GMT, "R SNEE"
>> <rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I
>>> played normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on
>>> ultra-hard difficulty selection?
>>
>> It was in the preview, not in the full game.
>
> This question regarding the hydra (the "blue-white tentacle thingy")
> is by far the single most asked question with HL2.

Gabe Newell explained it; not that it didn't work, it simply didn't
appear right. There were technical problems with displaying it. So
they cut the Hydra for the production release.
McG.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"McGrandpa" <McGrandpaNOT@NOThotmail.com> wrote in message
news:IYkCd.48432$yv2.14149@fe2.texas.rr.com...
> "GFree" <nickt4001@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> news:41d9d1d3$1@yorrell.saard.net
> > "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost.> wrote in message
> > news:9fait0pglabsirlb17n837ntjl0hm9o5cj@4ax.com...
> >> On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 11:14:33 GMT, "R SNEE"
> >> <rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >>> I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I
> >>> played normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only on
> >>> ultra-hard difficulty selection?
> >>
> >> It was in the preview, not in the full game.
> >
> > This question regarding the hydra (the "blue-white tentacle thingy")
> > is by far the single most asked question with HL2.
>
> Gabe Newell explained it; not that it didn't work, it simply didn't
> appear right. There were technical problems with displaying it. So
> they cut the Hydra for the production release.
> McG.
>
But according to the HL2: Raising the Bar Prima art book, the hydra was
removed because it was confusing during playtesting, and a little boring
with instant player kills and hard for the player to target. I can't
remember any issues with how it was being displayed.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"GFree" <nickt4001@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:41d9df99$1@yorrell.saard.net
> "McGrandpa" <McGrandpaNOT@NOThotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:IYkCd.48432$yv2.14149@fe2.texas.rr.com...
>> "GFree" <nickt4001@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
>> news:41d9d1d3$1@yorrell.saard.net
>>> "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost.> wrote in message
>>> news:9fait0pglabsirlb17n837ntjl0hm9o5cj@4ax.com...
>>>> On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 11:14:33 GMT, "R SNEE"
>>>> <rsne10428@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I didn't come across it at all through the game. Admittedly, I
>>>>> played normal difficulty - did it appear to others? - is it only
>>>>> on ultra-hard difficulty selection?
>>>>
>>>> It was in the preview, not in the full game.
>>>
>>> This question regarding the hydra (the "blue-white tentacle thingy")
>>> is by far the single most asked question with HL2.
>>
>> Gabe Newell explained it; not that it didn't work, it simply didn't
>> appear right. There were technical problems with displaying it. So
>> they cut the Hydra for the production release.
>> McG.
>>
> But according to the HL2: Raising the Bar Prima art book, the hydra
> was removed because it was confusing during playtesting, and a little
> boring with instant player kills and hard for the player to target. I
> can't remember any issues with how it was being displayed.

I don't have the book, I read that at GameSpot a while back. I think
I'll get that book pretty soon.
McG.