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Half-Life: Alyx

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Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#391

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

erikbye wrote: post #347
bloody-crow wrote: post #333

I've never understood the appeal of the VR. I play games that benefit from low reaction time and precision and my body is the main source of latency and mistakes. When I watch recordings of my own gameplay, I notice how my brain usually operates a few hundred milliseconds ahead of what my hands controlling mouse & keyboard are capable of executing. Throwing your untrained and sometimes unhealthy body into this mix do…

So... have you tried VR?

Of course they haven't.

The people that are the most vocal against VR, calling it a gimmick and all, typically haven't tried it, or they're just simply not interested in video games to begin with.

That's not to say that there are gamers that have tried VR and were unimpressed, but they're exceptionally rare.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#392

Post by senectus1 »

rocky1138 wrote: post #13

A criminally overlooked feature of this game is the release of the dev tools used to make maps and mods. Giving the tools away for such a powerful base game is what gave HL1 and HL2 it's incredible staying power.

does this mean the potential for a "Garry's Mod VR?"

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#393

Post by chroma »

mffnbs wrote: post #287
archarios wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OH NOES VALVE IS GOING TO MAKE US ALL TRANS WHAT A TRAGEDY

As a trans person, I welcome this cis introduction to gender dysphoria.

I've played a few VR games that allow you to customize your avatar. I've tried male bodies, female bodies, robot bodies, ridiculous carton bodies... everything. At no point did I feel that anything was wrong or out of place. This is true for everyone who I've loaned my headset to.

I think trans people are overgeneralizing from their own psyches. They feel like they are in the wrong body, and they assume that everyone else would feel the same if they were body-swapped into the opposite sex. But as far as I can tell, only a tiny fraction of people experience this. Gender dysphoria seems to be about as common as aphantasia or synesthesia.

Personally, I don't think of my body as part of my identity. It's a machine that I ride around in. If I woke up in the body of a woman, I'd be really annoyed but I doubt I'd go through years of hormones and surgery to be perceived as a man again. It would be easier to learn how to use the new body than to try to make it closer to what I'm used to.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#394

Post by Balgair »

plumbus420 wrote: post #24
atonse wrote: post #10

A cool idea that I'd never ever ever try. Half Life 1 on low res was scary enough. In all seriousness though – is there any studies done on potential PTSD-like effects that arise from this sort of VR game?

This is the kind of the inverse, but apparently they are treating Veterans with PTSD with VR: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/how-virtual-reality-...

BraveMind is a heck of a system for sure. The 'guided' part of it really is a step forward.

Over at Children's Colorado and they are also trying out VR for pediatric pain management. It seems to be effective thus far.

VR's killer app may well be Alyx, but there are a lot of potential uses that are out there that can really help out.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#395

Post by jimmaswell »

skavi wrote: post #370
jimmaswell wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going for something like the Rift S which is 2560×1440@80Hz you'd probably want to go up some from that to not compromise on the graphics. The lower resolutions on the other headsets would be less demanding.

the base specs are a 1060/580. That's a $600-$700 PC

Base specs mean middling graphics/performance, don't they? I think it's worth it to experience something like HL:A to the fullest if you can.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#396

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

on_and_off wrote: post #332
badloginagain wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> little more than an admiration delivery device Actually if anything she was the primary driver of the plot. Freeman, being a passive mute, follows what Alyx and co are doing for the majority of the plot(s).

What does she like ? Why does she fall in love with the mute player character at first sight ? Don't she already have relationships ? What exactly does she find attractive in that mute guy that appears and disappear ? She is here to as a reward/carrot for teenage boys, not as a full fledged character with her own wants and needs :/

> Why does she fall in love with the mute player character at first sight ? Don't she already have relationships ?

To be fair, it's heavily implied that Gordon Freeman is literally legendary among the resistance by that point. It's not a stretch that she'd at least be a bit star-struck.

But yeah, I'm always disappointed when I see Alyx near the top of "strong female character" rankings. Sure, she clears the bar for "character", which is better than ~95% of portrayals of women in video games, but that's not saying much.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#397

Post by ericflo »

dom96 wrote: post #348
acid__ wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also 24, and I can tell you I will absolutely be spending $1000 for the Valve VR headset (I've not previously owned VR) and any other PC upgrades to be able to play this game.

huh, are all 24 year olds buying into this? Also 24 years old, also planning to build a PC that's VR ready. I probably won't splurge $1000 for the Valve index, but I might buy their controllers + Oculus (which by the way also gets you Half-Life: Alyx for free).

Heads up, the Index controllers can't be easily made to work with Oculus headsets. They can easily be added to Vive or Pimax headsets though.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#398

Post by stubish »

mmanfrin wrote: post #46
ben7799 wrote: post #38

This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever. I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2. I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games b…

I think you underestimate how popular Half-Life was. The #1 game played on steam right now is a former HL mod, Counter Strike. I don't think the market for HL is small at all. VR, though, is a different story. That absolutely limits the market. That being said, I'd wager that a majority of people who play VR games on PC will likely buy this game, as it's probably the first true AAA title developed specifically for VR…

There seem to be a couple of AAA titles developed specifically for VR. 'Westworld Awakening' and 'Terminator: Resistance' are big franchise names that probably count (AAA is a bit of a vague category).

Personally, being the frugal sort, I'll wait until it is on special. By which time I'll have upgraded my headset to one I can wear for more than 30 mins without it becoming an irritation.

I do wonder if the demographic is bang on the money, with a large number of headsets in the hands of people in their late 30s and 40s who remember the original Half-Life. I had originally thought Valve would first reissue the Half-Life and Portal games for VR, or even reboot Half-Life.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#399

Post by retsibsi »

on_and_off wrote: post #332
badloginagain wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> little more than an admiration delivery device Actually if anything she was the primary driver of the plot. Freeman, being a passive mute, follows what Alyx and co are doing for the majority of the plot(s).

What does she like ? Why does she fall in love with the mute player character at first sight ? Don't she already have relationships ? What exactly does she find attractive in that mute guy that appears and disappear ? She is here to as a reward/carrot for teenage boys, not as a full fledged character with her own wants and needs :/

Some of this might depend on expectations. Perhaps she was a surprisingly well-drawn character by the standards of FPS NPCs, without breaking the mould completely -- like any comparable character, she was player-focused and very two-dimensional compared with any major character in a decent book.

Re: Half-Life: Alyx

#400

Post by DEADBEEFC0FFEE »

rocky1138 wrote: post #13

A criminally overlooked feature of this game is the release of the dev tools used to make maps and mods. Giving the tools away for such a powerful base game is what gave HL1 and HL2 it's incredible staying power.

It's not overlooked, it's mentioned in every related forum of discussion I have seen today.
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