Half-Life (PC) (1998)
Relevant Links:
Half-Life (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Half-Life (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
I'm not sure when I first and last played Half-Life, but I'm guess it was in the year 2000 or 2001. I remember getting as far as beginning to encounter law enforcement of some sort.
20121224:
Today, I loaded up the game and played for about half an hour, not counting about eight minutes of cut scenes. Overall, I'm enjoying the game and it's a lot easier to play now than when I played it when I was in high school. While I'll get surprised on occasion, I don't carry the fear of defeating the enemies now the way I did when I played the game years ago. At least, I recall being quite afraid.
Note, however, my screenshots from when I first played the game a decade ago indicate I made a good amount of progress. More than I thought I would have made given how scared I remember myself being of the enemies. Thus, perhaps I wasn't afraid as I think I was, I just played the game slowly and cautiously, or I was afraid but forced myself to play because its such a good game.
20121225:
Continuing to play today, I would have to say I have the most trouble with climbing up and down ladders. I seem to take a lot of my damage due to falling from a height.
Haha. Monsters are killing everybody and this guy says, "Well, there goes our grant money."
My first and last playthrough screenshots show me getting as far as turning on the power generator.
Having turned on the fan and generator, I found myself stuck. After backtracking once or twice between the two, I decided to look at a FAQ. SPOILER. Turns out the solution is that after the generator has been started, the fan now runs fast enough to levitate Gordon to the ceiling. END SPOILER.
I'd like to mention various tidbits to round off today's entry. First, while auto-aim makes the experience less realistic, I find it also makes the game more enjoyable. It's on by default, and while I'm pretty sure I could turn it off in the console, I'll leave it on during this playthrough. Second, it helps to save often and in fact create new save entries, as there were many times I would end up stuck in an area or stuck due to a glitch with respect to character movement. Third, the pistol is quite accurate, though this might have to do with the auto-aim feature. I like it best, and I like the shotgun second best. I largely overlooked the grenades until I started taking down the HECU ground sentries with them. Fourth, and final tidbit, the game has a great story and atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this game to any (standard) gamer.
20150108:
Having played a little of Half-Life 2 yesterday and working my way down the top rated PC games on MetaCritic.com, I was thinking to play a bit more of Half-Life today. Of course, I first had to search for any existing save files I might have backed up. Finally I found some and they seem to be where I left off (BLAST PIT). However, upon loading the furthest poitn of progress, I couldn't make heads or tails of where I was! As it turns out, I had basically got to the end of BLAST PIT!
Remark: Another problem I had was not holding the use (E) button long enough on the valve. You have to hold it in order to fully extend the pipe.
Then in the ON A RAIL chapter, I got stuck at the Blast Doors. Apparently, however, you only have to walk up to them for them to open. My goodness.
So dumb! Haha. At one point during ON A RAIL, there's two guards behind boxes. But you can't bomb them ahead of time, because I guess they don't spawn until you trigger the event.
Finally at 1:20AM PT I finish ON A RAIL and reach APPREHENSION. And so, I'm apparently less than halfway done. ;_;
Remark: Examining my save files, I noticed that they get bigger and bigger as the game progresses! Why would a save file have to get bigger!?! Starting with 000 (1,178 KB) to 006 (1,765 KB), drops back down 007 (197 KB) and then begins to increase again all the way until the recent save 038 (3,330 KB). Between 007 and 038, there is one except: 018 (68 KB).
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| Main Menu Screen |
Relevant Links:
Half-Life (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Half-Life (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
I'm not sure when I first and last played Half-Life, but I'm guess it was in the year 2000 or 2001. I remember getting as far as beginning to encounter law enforcement of some sort.
 |
| Initial indication of a problem. |
20121224:
Today, I loaded up the game and played for about half an hour, not counting about eight minutes of cut scenes. Overall, I'm enjoying the game and it's a lot easier to play now than when I played it when I was in high school. While I'll get surprised on occasion, I don't carry the fear of defeating the enemies now the way I did when I played the game years ago. At least, I recall being quite afraid.
 |
| Headcrab + scientist = Headcrab zombie. |
Note, however, my screenshots from when I first played the game a decade ago indicate I made a good amount of progress. More than I thought I would have made given how scared I remember myself being of the enemies. Thus, perhaps I wasn't afraid as I think I was, I just played the game slowly and cautiously, or I was afraid but forced myself to play because its such a good game.
ANOMALOUS MATERIALS
UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES...
 |
| Screenshot from circa 2000 (left). Screenshot from 20121224 (right). |
20121225:
Continuing to play today, I would have to say I have the most trouble with climbing up and down ladders. I seem to take a lot of my damage due to falling from a height.
Haha. Monsters are killing everybody and this guy says, "Well, there goes our grant money."
My first and last playthrough screenshots show me getting as far as turning on the power generator.
 |
| At one point I got two guards to help. They don't always follow properly. |
Having turned on the fan and generator, I found myself stuck. After backtracking once or twice between the two, I decided to look at a FAQ. SPOILER. Turns out the solution is that after the generator has been started, the fan now runs fast enough to levitate Gordon to the ceiling. END SPOILER.
...UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES
OFFICE COMPLEX
WE'VE GOT HOSTILES
BLAST PIT...
 |
| HECU Marine eliminates a scientist. |
I'd like to mention various tidbits to round off today's entry. First, while auto-aim makes the experience less realistic, I find it also makes the game more enjoyable. It's on by default, and while I'm pretty sure I could turn it off in the console, I'll leave it on during this playthrough. Second, it helps to save often and in fact create new save entries, as there were many times I would end up stuck in an area or stuck due to a glitch with respect to character movement. Third, the pistol is quite accurate, though this might have to do with the auto-aim feature. I like it best, and I like the shotgun second best. I largely overlooked the grenades until I started taking down the HECU ground sentries with them. Fourth, and final tidbit, the game has a great story and atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this game to any (standard) gamer.
20150108:
Having played a little of Half-Life 2 yesterday and working my way down the top rated PC games on MetaCritic.com, I was thinking to play a bit more of Half-Life today. Of course, I first had to search for any existing save files I might have backed up. Finally I found some and they seem to be where I left off (BLAST PIT). However, upon loading the furthest poitn of progress, I couldn't make heads or tails of where I was! As it turns out, I had basically got to the end of BLAST PIT!
"Follow it until you come to the big pipe, then climb on top of it and turn the valve. It will extend the pipe allowing you to jump across to the pipe opposite it. Crawl into the gap in the mesh and follow the pipe. Soon it will break under your weight and you will end up in a room full of crates. Break open the crates to find some laser trip mines. Head out into the hallway."
Remark: Another problem I had was not holding the use (E) button long enough on the valve. You have to hold it in order to fully extend the pipe.
Then in the ON A RAIL chapter, I got stuck at the Blast Doors. Apparently, however, you only have to walk up to them for them to open. My goodness.
So dumb! Haha. At one point during ON A RAIL, there's two guards behind boxes. But you can't bomb them ahead of time, because I guess they don't spawn until you trigger the event.
Finally at 1:20AM PT I finish ON A RAIL and reach APPREHENSION. And so, I'm apparently less than halfway done. ;_;
...(very end of) BLAST PIT
ON A RAIL
APPREHENSION (very start of)...
Remark: Examining my save files, I noticed that they get bigger and bigger as the game progresses! Why would a save file have to get bigger!?! Starting with 000 (1,178 KB) to 006 (1,765 KB), drops back down 007 (197 KB) and then begins to increase again all the way until the recent save 038 (3,330 KB). Between 007 and 038, there is one except: 018 (68 KB).
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