@@suddenimpulse030 nerrel half life video goes over it I'm pretty sure Edit: I think someone else covered it, pointing out how the locations don't look the same so the ai from hl2 doesn't work
My son pointed me at your original Half Life series, and I have watched the whole shebang so far. You ABSOLUTELY did these in the right order. I am so excited to see you react to this having the original under your belt. I am loving your whole Valve journey, and am here for it.
Mapo: "I wonder where's Eli" 1 second later Isaac: "Eli is waiting for you here" Mapo: "I was waiting to see if Eli will talk about his wife and kid" 1 second later Eli: "I need to find a safe place for Isaac so I can go find my family"
So glad to see this playthrough! Black Mesa was a fan project that also had a really long development time. The mod with everything up to Xen came out in 2012, but the full game with the Xen chapters didn't come out until 2020. But the work that the Crowbar Collective did really shows. Gabe Newell from Valve used to say in interviews that his one regret from the original Half-Life was how Xen turned out due to the time constraints they were under, and Black Mesa reimagines Xen in the best way possible.
It's crazy that they're still improving this. I played this last year and they have updated some things apparently. Like I didn't have to move the debris in front of the elevator, and Kleiner's hair were white.
Then i'd say u remember one particular section wrong cuz they've had the "move debris in front of elevator" from a long time, a very long time there's noclip documentary about the game 2 years old where the devs mention that as well, so definitely not a year ago.
Fun fact: The soundtrack in this game is one of the best ever created for any piece of media ever, and the composer had no musical training before making the original songs. This shows in some areas, like the admittedly not great mixing in some parts, and some weird placement in some places,, but the composition itself is nothing less than phenomenal. 2nd fun fact: The names on the lockers in the locker room are the names of developers, which is why they're different from the original. 3rd fun fact: I see you trying to compare things like animations and models to either the original or HL2, but everything in this is custom-made. Even models that WERE taken from HL2 (head crabs, barnacles, vortigaunts) have all been touched up with a grittier art style. It's a true labor of love.
About the Music I 100% agree. It is simply amazing and the story behind it reminds me a bit of Hans Zimmer (he was also not really somebody who trained in music before writing for movies). I think with better mixing and better equipment (maybe even live instruments) this Soundtrack could really become the favorite out of any Game for me.
@@ea09 That's fair. I've heard that a lot, and I agree, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I appreciate that he didn't feel trapped creatively by Half-Life's musical style, and felt comfortable doing his own thing.
Fun fact: I thought that the music was garbage compared to the original. Gave me fanfic vibes. I'm not blinded by nostalgia either since I played them back to back
Judith Mossman wasn't in Black Mesa, she envied Gordon to be part of it, she said it in Black Mesa East in Half Life 2 while going to the elevator to meet Eli.
Also she applied to work there but but lost out to Freeman's Innsbruck experience (as said by Eli Vance in Black Mesa East) and Isaac Kleiner's personal recommendation. [Based from Half-Life wiki]
WOW, that was fast. I remembered how long I had to wait for you to bring Half-Life Alyx after you finished Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and thought that a similar thing would happen for Black-Mesa. But now the video is already here. Amazing. I think this is one of the best remakes ever made. While everything about the original Half-Life is still here and obviously still amazing, here are my favorite additions: 1. The Soundtrack. It is simply amazing imo and while the quality is not perfect (mixing and virtual instruments) the composition is so good that I can get over that without any problems. 2. The Atmosphere and Graphics. I am normally one of those people who does actually care for graphics in games. I don't mean that I need photo-real graphics in every game but I do need good graphics with a great art-style that fits the graphics. So it was surprising for me that I loved this games graphics so much even though they are a bit outdated (especially the textures). I think what I found in the end is that the lighting in this game is simply amazing in my opinion (I don't mean the technical aspects but how the lighting is used as technically there is nothing that special about it). I also think that the art-design is so good that I simply don't notice the textures and not that high-quality models that much. At the end of the day, it all helps the atmosphere extremely 3. The NPCs, especially how the NPCs have been expanded upon from Half-Life 1 to Black-Mesa and especially the improved following-system where some NPCs can even have their own story if they are with you for long enough. I won't spoil more so that you can experience it for yourself, but it is pretty rare that you get these so I think you will have to watch it on RUclips later. I think in some ways the way NPCs are handled inside this game (which is actually pretty close to 1998) is even better than in many modern AAA-Games which is just amazing in my opinion and some of them are more unique than in many other games these days even though they are voiced by the same person and have the same models. Just impressive
I think it was ideal for him to take a break before Alyx. As great as all these Half life universe games are, playing so many games of same style in a short time can cause fatigue. It's easier to appreciate things when it's not a big bludgeon playing like 60 hours of stuff in a short time.
@@suddenimpulse030 yes, that could be true. Although I also do think every Half-Life game has an identity itself and they are way less the same thing as basically any other gaming-franchises entries. Especially Half-Life Alyx is very different to all other Half-Life Games because it is a VR-Game and has to do many thinks way different because of that (like combat speed, Level Design...). And even Half-Life 1 and 2 are surprisingly different. Again Level Design and in some way (somehow) even combat feel very different again. And if it wasn't for all the great world building you could even forget that they are in the same universe as the scenarios are extremely different. Still it can only be good to take a break and at least it was not a 13 year break
Interesting small addition to Black Mesa: You can do a run-slide move if you just crouch while running and you'll slide along the floor. Can be useful for getting into cover quickly.
Mapo would it be alright if you went on the development console and put the command "cl_mdldetailfx_enable 1"? It's an option that changes aesthetic and not gameplay! It restores battle damage and bloodied weapons from combat encounters! The devs removed it due to slight performance issues, but since you could run Half-Life Alyx; it shouldn't pose a problem for you! It'll increase the immersion during fights or after fights! Take a look and you can always disable it if you don't fancy it then just replace the 1 at the end of the command to a zero. It's not really a gameplay change, it's more of an aesthetic addition! I was always bummed out that they removed the option. ;~; I'd love to see it come back! Anyways it's just a thought! Either way I'll definitely enjoy the ride through Blackmesa with you as Gordon anyway! Beat up those aliens, man!
Omg! The scientist on the left when you enter the test chamber is voiced by Kevan Brighting! I'd recognise his voice anywhere! He does the voice for the Narrator in The Stanley Parable.
42:14 this moment when you were looking around the place felt like Gordon was freaking out and in shock for a second, it gave him so much personality I love it.
Not only is it fun to compare the differences between the original and the remake, it's also cool to see the differences between the early versions of the remake and the final version. Also, it's crazy how good the voice actors are and how well they match the original actors!
Dr. Cross (Gina Cross) is the woman who is holographically represented in the original Hazard Course tutorial in Half-Life, as well as one of the playable characters in Decay. Happy to see you're doing this! Hope you enjoy it! It truly is an amazing game.
I laughed when the Stanley Parable narrator VA made an appearance as one of the scientists. It was a slightly missed opportunity to cast him as the scientist you meet slightly before who's miffed at having to do menial tasks. That'd have been quite the easter egg.
Yes! I sadly couldn't follow up on your Alyx playthrough as I haven't had the chance to play it myself, getting the Index is painful when they don't even ship it to your country. That's ironic, I am also the same age as Gordon Freeman at the very moment, without the degree of course. I don't think Judith worked at Black Mesa at the time, she was applying for the same position Gordon was, but Gordon was picked because of his experience, as she spoke of how much she envied Gordon for being able to work with them at their peak and how she wish it was her in the test chamber that day. The Vortigaunt in the cave in HL2 says that he cannot forgive as it's not in his power, assuming only those you actually killed can forgive you, but they understand.
Some of the Black Mesa levels are simplified, but there are mods that enrich them. Since you are on Steam, these mods are easily available in the Workshop, check On A Rail, for example. Regardless, BM as-is is still an exceptional experience which you will definitely enjoy. Those guys at 20:00 were actually a metaphor for BM recreating HL1 :) You'll meet the old guy at 37:00 in Stanley Parable, if you ever play it, which is highly recommended ;) You can run past a lot of enemies in Half-Life 1. The important thing to notice is that you are required to get to the exit of a map by any means necessary, and in many cases you can just ignore the enemies. It is a bit difficult when you actually need to complete a puzzle while under attack, but that first vort you killed could have been spared if you just dropped into the canal.
After your comment on the music that plays once you don the suit I went back and watched your precise reaction to the OG music in the first game. GOLD!!!
Love that Mapo is still a pacifist when it comes to Barnacles and avoids killing them whenever possible. Edit: Random trivia, the internal name of the sonic dogs is "houndeye"
In the back of my mind I had fingers crossed that you might play this. It’s a great accomplishment of a project, and to think it was created solely by fans working entirely in their spare time over the course of a decade. It’s a testament to the polish and detail and enriched portrayal of the Half Life story that the developers of HL Alyx found themselves wanting to play this sooner than going back to the original Half Life. It’s not a perfect reimagining in my books. Even though the increased size of maps, modern textured models, sense of atmosphere and new music are all nothing short of beautiful to behold and the gameplay in general is pretty much an absolute buttery smooth treat for hardcore HL fans, the voice acting is a mixed bag, especially the scientists voiced by Mike Hillard. He does a great job as Kleiner, and while his voice lends well to the comedic moments with scientists, I just can’t quite buy into it when they’re in peril or scared or delivering dramatic dialogue. Kevin Sisk was a fantastic find, he voices the guards. He’s not putting on a voice at all, he actually naturally sounds like Barney, I followed the development of this game like a hawk pre-2012 and listened to him in interviews and it wowed me! So yeah, glad to see you revisiting the story! Have all the fun!
i love this game a lot!! i hope you enjoy black mesa, it's genuinely one of the best remakes i've ever seen and the fact that it's entirely fanmade with valve's blessing just makes it that much sweeter
It's so satisfying to see you enjoy the various Half-Life games as much as you do. I literally grew up playing the first game, with my younger sister watching over my shoulder and getting freaked out by the creepiness 😂
I got to know your content through the videos of half life 1, it's been strangely fun to see you having fun with your favorite video game saga, I hope it stays that way at black mesa (which is a F*cking great game by the way)
I remember when I was a child playing half life 1, everybody hated Xen levels but I loved them so much, It was like "woooow alien World soo cool" for me and when I played the alpha - beta versions of Black Mesa when they started I was like soooo anxious to play the Xen levels but back then there where no Xen levels yet, when they droped the update and passed the game from beta to release, I played the Xen levels, my inner child was so happy to see Xen like this and i droped a tear. This game is a love letter.
I got into your channel from watching your berserk stuff and then your alyx videos which i'm getting through now. I enjoy your alyx series because you give it your mind and talk about it even though i've seen the game be played before. anyway I was just yesterday hoping you'd play black mesa and here you are!
The scientist with glasses and white hair before going into the test chamber is the narrator from The Stanley Parable. Didn't catch it on my first time round but heard it this time.
Yeah I TOTALLY disagree with the people saying you should have skipped the original. It's so fundamental to understanding the leaps of technology made from 1 to 2, and to appreciate what it did new at the time. Black Mesa is great as like a delicious bowl of ice cream after your meal, when you're done with all the official Half-Life games and want more to tide you over, but should not replace the meal.
I really appreciate the developers of this remake stayed close to the original game where needed but certain things like movement and control tips got a massive improvement. They also used the source engine. The original half life was built with a modified engine of Quake
Actually, crazy enough, Source is a mod of the Half Life engine, Gold Source! which is a mod of Quake, which is a mod of… Although technically, THIS version of Source is even FURTHER modified to make the Xen levels possible. So yeah, just, mods on top of mods on top of mods!
8:10 I'm fairly certain Gordan on OG Half Life can see G-man on the Tram ride as well. If I recall correctly you have to look from the back of the Tram.
The son photo is more or less a developer easter egg from the Black Mesa crew. I can't recall the exact story but it was something along the lines of the guys son inspired him to recreate the game so future generations can experience the game.
Next playthrough should be the original Half Life in VR and maybe by that time the full Half Life 2 VR mod will be done. Jedi Outcast in VR would also be really cool.
Can I just point out how much better you've become with a mouse and keyboard since your Half-Life playthrough? Also looking forward to this one. Edit: you did mention your M+K skills improving later in the video.
People who say you should have played this instead of HL1 in the first place just don't understand what a giant leap forward the first Half Life was, and what sort of impact it had on the industry as a whole at the time. Not necessarily in terms of technology (although it did some amazing things for the time), but rather in terms of format. It advanced the medium and shaped the genre for years to come. See Noclip's excellent documentary about HL (and also the one about Black Mesa) to understand what the hype was back then.
One tip: I don't know why but like in many other games, the music is way too loud in Black Mesa. I would suggest at least 50% of the level of music because otherwise you will blow your ears out when the first combat track starts and you can't hear people whenever music is playing
I've been looking forward to this! I hope you have a fun experience!! ^^ It's surely been mentioned already, probably multiple times, but I'd love to watch your reactions to the show Arcane! Related to League of Legends but can be thoroughly enjoyed entirely standalone, it's a work of art and a testament to animation/art/storytelling/etc and is really cool for being very show-don't-tell in satisfying and intelligent ways, and it's a really emotional, endearing, thought-provoking experience.
Good to be watching another Mapocolops runthrough. Sadly had to skip the Alyx one since i'm planning on playing it myself, but I love me some mopocolopocolpos
You should have started with the tutorial level, it has quite a bit of storyline going on. The tutorial level was remade based on the expanded official tutorial level presented in the Half Life PS2 version. The PS2 version of Half Life had quite a few differences here and there, but the most noticeable one is the tutorial that added characters and dialogue
Don't worry Mapo, I agree 100% with your reasoning for starting with the original HL1 before playing Black Mesa. I think your play order of all the Valve games is actually perfect for experiencing the franchise for the first time.
One thing to note about the Vortigaunts, in HL2, the All-Knowing Vortigaunt hidden in a canal pipe says, "We cannot forget those whose cords you cut. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow. Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread." They are referring to all of the Vortigaunts you killed in HL1. They technically have not forgiven you for your transgressions toward the Vortigaunt race, but they are willing to put aside all that to unify against the common enemy, the Combine.
Your approach was right with the original start. The only point against would be a combination with not enough time and fear of not liking the game. The whole journey with you in the HL universum was great and now with the last station black mesa it gets a good enign and comparison. Until now you were involved in the story and the events with interest. Thats not always the case in streams or YT
You did the right thing to play the original version first. And to wait to play this one. Now you get to have all the nostalgia of what it looked like before and after! With Xen being added more now of course.
A big part of what makes Black Mesa amazing is how little is re-used. All new music, all new voice acting, all new models and textures. And it's all really excellent
Black Mesa is actually a reimagining, not a remake! They do a lot more while sticking to the original HL1 story, it's amazing Also, do you have always run on?
Hell yes! It's going to be a great ride. The last third is just mind-blowing. And yeah music is fantastic. Composer Joel Nielsen did a great job. Worth listening on its own!
We're already here? Wow, I'm excited to see your opinion on this game. And lol, you forgot about the Microwave cacerole, it was Magnusson's lunch. Also: No. Mossman is not in Black Mesa labs by that time. She applied to the same job as Gordon, but Gordon was the one who got it and she got rejected. It's kinda some thing as what happened to Russell who also applied to Black Mesa but didn't get accepted. And btw... Maybe you should turn off the autorun, it gets more immersion in the movement features and the running animation is quite good. But if you don't want it's okay :)
SOO glad you are playing this. Now your Half Life experience is complete! By the way there are some REALLY good Portal mods that are full games of their own with good stories, for your personal time in the future.
9:12 I got that feeling recently too, when I realised that being 23, I’m now a year older than Adrian Shepherd. I’d been playing Half Life since 7 or 8…as only a gamer can feel, it’s a bit awkward.
It's worth exhausting all of the custom dialogue in the opening chapter. Some of it is great and some of the guards play tricks on you. Also, forget seeing characters like Mossman throughout the game. For one thing, Mossman never worked at Black Mesa. Freeman got the job she applied for.
Theres actually a very daunting and funny Easter Egg! At the beginning, near the doors where Gordon comes from the Tram.. there's a hidden area with a hat! I believe.. carrying the hat all the wat to the end of the game would make G-Man appear at the end of the game with a hat!
The thing what is mindblowing to me is the entire soundtrack. It's amazingly good. I mean, I could imagine this soundtrack in a 100 million dollars budget game.
There's one very small reference to Aperture Science in this game; I'll be impressed if you spot it. It won't be for a while yet though. Killing vorts is sad, but they do get some interesting new narrative scenes and game mechanics in Xen to better contextualise their role and link them to Half Life 2.
9:10 this whole character age thing hits so close to home. I remember when I found out Timmy Turner was 10 while I was 10. It blew my mind, made me feel so represented lol. And finding out I was older than characters too later on was insane as well.
@@buoyancydabl Developer commentary from Episode 2 says that that particular line was used as direction and inspiration for when they created Magnusson. Emphasis on inspiration.
Fun fact. when you are entering the test chamber. the scientist that says "We have assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong" is voiced by the3 Narrator from The Stanley Parable, Kevan Brighting.
At 21:15 the dialogue “HELLO Dr Cross” seems to be an Easter egg no one had noticed yet. That, I believe, is Gordon speaking, in reference to the guy who mentioned the ponytail saying “say hi to Dr cross for me”. I never noticed that until just now, thinking it was Dr cross from the coop missions from HL1 it was referencing.
This comment is 6 months old, but I just thought I'd mention that Dr. Cross is a female scientist who is featured in Half Life: Decay. It _is_ an Easter Egg, but that scientist is actually practicing working up the nerve to talk to her.
I highly recommend that you look into cut content from all the Half Life and Portal games. Theres some very very interesting stuff to see. Including, particularly in Half Life 2, theres an enemy you can see in the citadel during the pod ride (pretty sure you noticed it during your playthrough) that never appears in game, but has a fully HD model with attack animations and the whole works. Theres plenty of interesting things there that give you an idea of the dev process. Maybe you could even try out the old Half Life 2 Beta leak? Its soooo much different, but it has weapons like HL1s super unique weapons. If you do play, keep in mind you cant just play it beginning to end, since it was y'know, a beta lol. Its from before they did a complete HL2 rewrite, so its almost all different.
Wow I really didn’t think you would do this after playing HL1. I really can’t wait for you to see how well Xen looks. It took them 8 years to make all the levels from Inbound to Lambda Core, then they waited an additional 7 years to refine the Xen levels.
![We've Got Hostiles & Blast Pit - Black Mesa Playthrough [Part 2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PZayOhQdWBI/mqdefault.jpg)
![We've Got Hostiles & Blast Pit - Black Mesa Playthrough [Part 2]](/img/tr.png)
![A Rude Awakening - The Beginning of Portal 2 | Blind Playthrough [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WpeF_Y5KXuE/mqdefault.jpg)
I've always liked that the dialogue at 20:10 is extremely meta. That's a very nice addition and Black Mesa writers really were on point.
Damn, I didn't even think about that... Good catch.
That went completely over my head when I played lmao
Never thought of it that way. Nice catch
37:05 They got the Stanley Parable Narrator voice actor to do voice acting for them?! AWESOME!
That's actually just Kevan Brighting in his regular, mortal form.
The Resonance Cascade changed him.
Yeh I thought it was weird that of all the peopel they choose a side charecter?
@@blakecity17 I'm sure the cameo only had the cost for one monologue sadly
One of the best remakes ever! You can tell it was made by people who were extremely passionate about the original game.
Too bad it's apparently got a lot of bad gameplay and ai changes
@@MrBrax I experienced no issues with it and I played them back to back earlier this year to directly compare them. It's also STILL being updated.
@@suddenimpulse030 nerrel half life video goes over it I'm pretty sure
Edit: I think someone else covered it, pointing out how the locations don't look the same so the ai from hl2 doesn't work
@@MrBrax 90% of those criticisms are HL1 purists who break down at the thought of any change to the game
@@littlechickeyhudak yeah the AI weirdness is noticable but apart from that it has been really enjoyable ngl.
My son pointed me at your original Half Life series, and I have watched the whole shebang so far. You ABSOLUTELY did these in the right order. I am so excited to see you react to this having the original under your belt. I am loving your whole Valve journey, and am here for it.
@Erick Phoenix Thanks! I infrequently post on manthatwasgood which is my food Instagram of empty plates. :D
I've been looking forward to this. Black Mesa makes a fine entry point to the series itself, but god it's amazing when you have the comparison in mind
Mapo: "I wonder where's Eli"
1 second later
Isaac: "Eli is waiting for you here"
Mapo: "I was waiting to see if Eli will talk about his wife and kid"
1 second later
Eli: "I need to find a safe place for Isaac so I can go find my family"
The scientist is Dr. Kleiner
@@Stongg Oh yeah. D'oh, gotta fix that
@@Stongg But to be fair, the last time I played this game, Kleiner's hair were still white. Which confused me.
@@rohitchaoji Huh? I don't remember Kleiner's hair being white in Black Mesa
Perhaps you meant Half-Life or Half-Life 2?
@@Stongg I have played an older version of Black Mesa, where they used the same character model as HL-2. They were not always black in Black Mesa.
So glad to see this playthrough! Black Mesa was a fan project that also had a really long development time. The mod with everything up to Xen came out in 2012, but the full game with the Xen chapters didn't come out until 2020. But the work that the Crowbar Collective did really shows. Gabe Newell from Valve used to say in interviews that his one regret from the original Half-Life was how Xen turned out due to the time constraints they were under, and Black Mesa reimagines Xen in the best way possible.
1:24 you did right by playing the original game, to appreciate the technology leap :)
It's crazy that they're still improving this. I played this last year and they have updated some things apparently. Like I didn't have to move the debris in front of the elevator, and Kleiner's hair were white.
Then i'd say u remember one particular section wrong cuz they've had the "move debris in front of elevator" from a long time, a very long time there's noclip documentary about the game 2 years old where the devs mention that as well, so definitely not a year ago.
@@arnabbiswasalsodeep It's been a year since I played it so I definitely remembered it wrong then
moving the debris and Kleiner's brown hair have always been in Black Mesa since 2012
@@rohitchaoji It's okay, human brains are terrible at remembering things correctly.
My faith in people is so low, I thought that they changed it from the way it is now to how you described, and I was like “why would they do that??”
Fun fact: The soundtrack in this game is one of the best ever created for any piece of media ever, and the composer had no musical training before making the original songs. This shows in some areas, like the admittedly not great mixing in some parts, and some weird placement in some places,, but the composition itself is nothing less than phenomenal.
2nd fun fact: The names on the lockers in the locker room are the names of developers, which is why they're different from the original.
3rd fun fact: I see you trying to compare things like animations and models to either the original or HL2, but everything in this is custom-made. Even models that WERE taken from HL2 (head crabs, barnacles, vortigaunts) have all been touched up with a grittier art style. It's a true labor of love.
About the Music I 100% agree. It is simply amazing and the story behind it reminds me a bit of Hans Zimmer (he was also not really somebody who trained in music before writing for movies). I think with better mixing and better equipment (maybe even live instruments) this Soundtrack could really become the favorite out of any Game for me.
Songs are great, but i don't think most of it really fits into Half-Life.
It's so underated and often over looked. Especially at the games release.
@@ea09 That's fair. I've heard that a lot, and I agree, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I appreciate that he didn't feel trapped creatively by Half-Life's musical style, and felt comfortable doing his own thing.
Fun fact: I thought that the music was garbage compared to the original. Gave me fanfic vibes. I'm not blinded by nostalgia either since I played them back to back
Judith Mossman wasn't in Black Mesa, she envied Gordon to be part of it, she said it in Black Mesa East in Half Life 2 while going to the elevator to meet Eli.
Also she applied to work there but but lost out to Freeman's Innsbruck experience (as said by Eli Vance in Black Mesa East) and Isaac Kleiner's personal recommendation. [Based from Half-Life wiki]
WOW, that was fast. I remembered how long I had to wait for you to bring Half-Life Alyx after you finished Half-Life 2 Episode 2 and thought that a similar thing would happen for Black-Mesa. But now the video is already here. Amazing.
I think this is one of the best remakes ever made. While everything about the original Half-Life is still here and obviously still amazing, here are my favorite additions:
1. The Soundtrack. It is simply amazing imo and while the quality is not perfect (mixing and virtual instruments) the composition is so good that I can get over that without any problems.
2. The Atmosphere and Graphics. I am normally one of those people who does actually care for graphics in games. I don't mean that I need photo-real graphics in every game but I do need good graphics with a great art-style that fits the graphics. So it was surprising for me that I loved this games graphics so much even though they are a bit outdated (especially the textures). I think what I found in the end is that the lighting in this game is simply amazing in my opinion (I don't mean the technical aspects but how the lighting is used as technically there is nothing that special about it). I also think that the art-design is so good that I simply don't notice the textures and not that high-quality models that much. At the end of the day, it all helps the atmosphere extremely
3. The NPCs, especially how the NPCs have been expanded upon from Half-Life 1 to Black-Mesa and especially the improved following-system where some NPCs can even have their own story if they are with you for long enough. I won't spoil more so that you can experience it for yourself, but it is pretty rare that you get these so I think you will have to watch it on RUclips later. I think in some ways the way NPCs are handled inside this game (which is actually pretty close to 1998) is even better than in many modern AAA-Games which is just amazing in my opinion and some of them are more unique than in many other games these days even though they are voiced by the same person and have the same models. Just impressive
I think it was ideal for him to take a break before Alyx. As great as all these Half life universe games are, playing so many games of same style in a short time can cause fatigue. It's easier to appreciate things when it's not a big bludgeon playing like 60 hours of stuff in a short time.
@@suddenimpulse030 yes, that could be true.
Although I also do think every Half-Life game has an identity itself and they are way less the same thing as basically any other gaming-franchises entries. Especially Half-Life Alyx is very different to all other Half-Life Games because it is a VR-Game and has to do many thinks way different because of that (like combat speed, Level Design...). And even Half-Life 1 and 2 are surprisingly different. Again Level Design and in some way (somehow) even combat feel very different again. And if it wasn't for all the great world building you could even forget that they are in the same universe as the scenarios are extremely different.
Still it can only be good to take a break and at least it was not a 13 year break
"We're really running on this flare thing for a while aren't we"
Immediately finds crowbar one second later.
Interesting small addition to Black Mesa: You can do a run-slide move if you just crouch while running and you'll slide along the floor. Can be useful for getting into cover quickly.
That conversation that group of scientists is having right before getting the HEV suit is about the both sides of remaking Half Life (Black Mesa).
Mapo would it be alright if you went on the development console and put the command "cl_mdldetailfx_enable 1"? It's an option that changes aesthetic and not gameplay! It restores battle damage and bloodied weapons from combat encounters! The devs removed it due to slight performance issues, but since you could run Half-Life Alyx; it shouldn't pose a problem for you! It'll increase the immersion during fights or after fights! Take a look and you can always disable it if you don't fancy it then just replace the 1 at the end of the command to a zero. It's not really a gameplay change, it's more of an aesthetic addition! I was always bummed out that they removed the option. ;~; I'd love to see it come back! Anyways it's just a thought! Either way I'll definitely enjoy the ride through Blackmesa with you as Gordon anyway! Beat up those aliens, man!
shoot i didnt even know that, i gotta turn that on
Hell yes! I have been waiting for this for so long. I hope you have a lot of fun with this, imo it is so good.
Omg! The scientist on the left when you enter the test chamber is voiced by Kevan Brighting! I'd recognise his voice anywhere! He does the voice for the Narrator in The Stanley Parable.
42:14 this moment when you were looking around the place felt like Gordon was freaking out and in shock for a second, it gave him so much personality I love it.
37:13 hello Stanley, er i mean Gordon, lol the narrator from Stanley parable
Not only is it fun to compare the differences between the original and the remake, it's also cool to see the differences between the early versions of the remake and the final version. Also, it's crazy how good the voice actors are and how well they match the original actors!
Dr. Cross (Gina Cross) is the woman who is holographically represented in the original Hazard Course tutorial in Half-Life, as well as one of the playable characters in Decay.
Happy to see you're doing this! Hope you enjoy it! It truly is an amazing game.
I laughed when the Stanley Parable narrator VA made an appearance as one of the scientists. It was a slightly missed opportunity to cast him as the scientist you meet slightly before who's miffed at having to do menial tasks. That'd have been quite the easter egg.
You probably missed the 8 button easter egg
Perfect follow-up to Alyx, thanks Mapo.
Mapo: "the circle is now complete" when i left you, i was but the learner. Now, i am the master.
Valve: "Only a master of evil Mapo."
Yes! I sadly couldn't follow up on your Alyx playthrough as I haven't had the chance to play it myself, getting the Index is painful when they don't even ship it to your country.
That's ironic, I am also the same age as Gordon Freeman at the very moment, without the degree of course.
I don't think Judith worked at Black Mesa at the time, she was applying for the same position Gordon was, but Gordon was picked because of his experience,
as she spoke of how much she envied Gordon for being able to work with them at their peak and how she wish it was her in the test chamber that day.
The Vortigaunt in the cave in HL2 says that he cannot forgive as it's not in his power, assuming only those you actually killed can forgive you, but they understand.
Some of the Black Mesa levels are simplified, but there are mods that enrich them. Since you are on Steam, these mods are easily available in the Workshop, check On A Rail, for example. Regardless, BM as-is is still an exceptional experience which you will definitely enjoy.
Those guys at 20:00 were actually a metaphor for BM recreating HL1 :)
You'll meet the old guy at 37:00 in Stanley Parable, if you ever play it, which is highly recommended ;)
You can run past a lot of enemies in Half-Life 1. The important thing to notice is that you are required to get to the exit of a map by any means necessary, and in many cases you can just ignore the enemies. It is a bit difficult when you actually need to complete a puzzle while under attack, but that first vort you killed could have been spared if you just dropped into the canal.
After your comment on the music that plays once you don the suit I went back and watched your precise reaction to the OG music in the first game. GOLD!!!
Yes! Ive been waiting. I really think your going to enjoy this playthrough. Also, your choice in how to play HL1 and Black Mesa was perfect.
Love that Mapo is still a pacifist when it comes to Barnacles and avoids killing them whenever possible. Edit: Random trivia, the internal name of the sonic dogs is "houndeye"
oh god, he's begun the desperate spiral for more half life content after finishing alyx. we've all been there.
37:12 You should totally play The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe so you can hear more of this amazing voice 😁
I think it would be better to play the original version first. The blue door stuff was much better in the original.
In the back of my mind I had fingers crossed that you might play this.
It’s a great accomplishment of a project, and to think it was created solely by fans working entirely in their spare time over the course of a decade.
It’s a testament to the polish and detail and enriched portrayal of the Half Life story that the developers of HL Alyx found themselves wanting to play this sooner than going back to the original Half Life.
It’s not a perfect reimagining in my books. Even though the increased size of maps, modern textured models, sense of atmosphere and new music are all nothing short of beautiful to behold and the gameplay in general is pretty much an absolute buttery smooth treat for hardcore HL fans, the voice acting is a mixed bag, especially the scientists voiced by Mike Hillard. He does a great job as Kleiner, and while his voice lends well to the comedic moments with scientists, I just can’t quite buy into it when they’re in peril or scared or delivering dramatic dialogue. Kevin Sisk was a fantastic find, he voices the guards. He’s not putting on a voice at all, he actually naturally sounds like Barney, I followed the development of this game like a hawk pre-2012 and listened to him in interviews and it wowed me!
So yeah, glad to see you revisiting the story!
Have all the fun!
i love this game a lot!! i hope you enjoy black mesa, it's genuinely one of the best remakes i've ever seen and the fact that it's entirely fanmade with valve's blessing just makes it that much sweeter
YES, I've been waiting so long :) This remake is absolutely stunning! I really hope you will enjoy it as much as I did back in 2012. Have fun!
It's so satisfying to see you enjoy the various Half-Life games as much as you do. I literally grew up playing the first game, with my younger sister watching over my shoulder and getting freaked out by the creepiness 😂
Wow! Didn't expect this so soon! The consistency and quality of your content is amazing, thanks mapo
I got to know your content through the videos of half life 1, it's been strangely fun to see you having fun with your favorite video game saga, I hope it stays that way at black mesa (which is a F*cking great game by the way)
I remember when I was a child playing half life 1, everybody hated Xen levels but I loved them so much, It was like "woooow alien World soo cool" for me and when I played the alpha - beta versions of Black Mesa when they started I was like soooo anxious to play the Xen levels but back then there where no Xen levels yet, when they droped the update and passed the game from beta to release, I played the Xen levels, my inner child was so happy to see Xen like this and i droped a tear. This game is a love letter.
Xen truly captures the spirit of the remake as a whole
I got into your channel from watching your berserk stuff and then your alyx videos which i'm getting through now. I enjoy your alyx series because you give it your mind and talk about it even though i've seen the game be played before. anyway I was just yesterday hoping you'd play black mesa and here you are!
Ok Mapo, Judith was never on the Black mesa facility she applied for the same possition as Gordon but Gordon got in while she was refused.
im glad you played the original half life before black mesa
The scientist with glasses and white hair before going into the test chamber is the narrator from The Stanley Parable. Didn't catch it on my first time round but heard it this time.
Yeah I TOTALLY disagree with the people saying you should have skipped the original. It's so fundamental to understanding the leaps of technology made from 1 to 2, and to appreciate what it did new at the time. Black Mesa is great as like a delicious bowl of ice cream after your meal, when you're done with all the official Half-Life games and want more to tide you over, but should not replace the meal.
I really appreciate the developers of this remake stayed close to the original game where needed but certain things like movement and control tips got a massive improvement. They also used the source engine. The original half life was built with a modified engine of Quake
Actually, crazy enough, Source is a mod of the Half Life engine, Gold Source! which is a mod of Quake, which is a mod of…
Although technically, THIS version of Source is even FURTHER modified to make the Xen levels possible. So yeah, just, mods on top of mods on top of mods!
8:10 I'm fairly certain Gordan on OG Half Life can see G-man on the Tram ride as well. If I recall correctly you have to look from the back of the Tram.
The son photo is more or less a developer easter egg from the Black Mesa crew. I can't recall the exact story but it was something along the lines of the guys son inspired him to recreate the game so future generations can experience the game.
24:02 Ah, good ol' Dr. Coome- Hello Gordon!
Next playthrough should be the original Half Life in VR and maybe by that time the full Half Life 2 VR mod will be done. Jedi Outcast in VR would also be really cool.
Ahhh I'm so excited! I know you're someone who will really appreciate this game.
Can I just point out how much better you've become with a mouse and keyboard since your Half-Life playthrough? Also looking forward to this one.
Edit: you did mention your M+K skills improving later in the video.
People who say you should have played this instead of HL1 in the first place just don't understand what a giant leap forward the first Half Life was, and what sort of impact it had on the industry as a whole at the time. Not necessarily in terms of technology (although it did some amazing things for the time), but rather in terms of format. It advanced the medium and shaped the genre for years to come. See Noclip's excellent documentary about HL (and also the one about Black Mesa) to understand what the hype was back then.
i would laugh so much seeing your reaction to HLVR:AI
I don't think you've grasped even 50% of new dialogs in the intro. They truly added a lot.
One tip: I don't know why but like in many other games, the music is way too loud in Black Mesa. I would suggest at least 50% of the level of music because otherwise you will blow your ears out when the first combat track starts and you can't hear people whenever music is playing
I've been looking forward to this! I hope you have a fun experience!! ^^
It's surely been mentioned already, probably multiple times, but I'd love to watch your reactions to the show Arcane! Related to League of Legends but can be thoroughly enjoyed entirely standalone, it's a work of art and a testament to animation/art/storytelling/etc and is really cool for being very show-don't-tell in satisfying and intelligent ways, and it's a really emotional, endearing, thought-provoking experience.
Hell yeah, prepare for unforeseen consequences.
Good to be watching another Mapocolops runthrough. Sadly had to skip the Alyx one since i'm planning on playing it myself, but I love me some mopocolopocolpos
I'm just looking forward to the day Mapo will do a watch party for "Half-Life VR but the AI is Self Aware"
You should have started with the tutorial level, it has quite a bit of storyline going on. The tutorial level was remade based on the expanded official tutorial level presented in the Half Life PS2 version. The PS2 version of Half Life had quite a few differences here and there, but the most noticeable one is the tutorial that added characters and dialogue
The detail they added about Gordon "accidentally" being assigned to the firearms training course is a cute touch.
Don't worry Mapo, I agree 100% with your reasoning for starting with the original HL1 before playing Black Mesa. I think your play order of all the Valve games is actually perfect for experiencing the franchise for the first time.
You should REEEALLY check out "Half Life VR but the AI is self aware"! It's one of the best Half Life related things on RUclips
God I haven't laughed so hard in years
@@MasterSorez Yeah, HLAI is gold)
How funny, I just started a replay of Black Mesa yesterday.
One thing to note about the Vortigaunts, in HL2, the All-Knowing Vortigaunt hidden in a canal pipe says, "We cannot forget those whose cords you cut. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow. Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread."
They are referring to all of the Vortigaunts you killed in HL1. They technically have not forgiven you for your transgressions toward the Vortigaunt race, but they are willing to put aside all that to unify against the common enemy, the Combine.
Your approach was right with the original start. The only point against would be a combination with not enough time and fear of not liking the game.
The whole journey with you in the HL universum was great and now with the last station black mesa it gets a good enign and comparison. Until now you were involved in the story and the events with interest. Thats not always the case in streams or YT
no doubt to me that the entire HL franchise is the best shooter series ever, actually not eben close imho. Black Mesa is awesome too, you'll love it!
You did the right thing to play the original version first. And to wait to play this one. Now you get to have all the nostalgia of what it looked like before and after! With Xen being added more now of course.
I wonder how he will feel about slaughtering vortigaunts now lol
@@suddenimpulse030 I know right. When I played BM, I was so sad. lol
A big part of what makes Black Mesa amazing is how little is re-used. All new music, all new voice acting, all new models and textures. And it's all really excellent
Black Mesa is actually a reimagining, not a remake! They do a lot more while sticking to the original HL1 story, it's amazing
Also, do you have always run on?
Hell yes!
It's going to be a great ride. The last third is just mind-blowing. And yeah music is fantastic. Composer Joel Nielsen did a great job. Worth listening on its own!
Welcome back, Mr. Freeman!
23:12 resonance cassecade
We're already here? Wow, I'm excited to see your opinion on this game. And lol, you forgot about the Microwave cacerole, it was Magnusson's lunch. Also: No. Mossman is not in Black Mesa labs by that time. She applied to the same job as Gordon, but Gordon was the one who got it and she got rejected. It's kinda some thing as what happened to Russell who also applied to Black Mesa but didn't get accepted. And btw... Maybe you should turn off the autorun, it gets more immersion in the movement features and the running animation is quite good. But if you don't want it's okay :)
SOO glad you are playing this. Now your Half Life experience is complete!
By the way there are some REALLY good Portal mods that are full games of their own with good stories, for your personal time in the future.
Portal Stories: Mel and Portal: Prelude are two only great mods for Portal series games.
9:12
I got that feeling recently too, when I realised that being 23, I’m now a year older than Adrian Shepherd.
I’d been playing Half Life since 7 or 8…as only a gamer can feel, it’s a bit awkward.
The whole conversation at 20:10 is a metaphor for Black Mesa as a remake of Half-Life. It's quite funny when you notice it.
It's worth exhausting all of the custom dialogue in the opening chapter. Some of it is great and some of the guards play tricks on you.
Also, forget seeing characters like Mossman throughout the game. For one thing, Mossman never worked at Black Mesa. Freeman got the job she applied for.
Nice! I hope Portal 2 easter eggs (and fan made mods) are next on the list
Yeah gman's on gordon's tramride as well. He's in a car with a scientist near or in that room with the glowing gunk and the forklift-walker. iirc.
Theres actually a very daunting and funny Easter Egg! At the beginning, near the doors where Gordon comes from the Tram.. there's a hidden area with a hat! I believe.. carrying the hat all the wat to the end of the game would make G-Man appear at the end of the game with a hat!
As far as I know the Barney's and other voices aren't the same but their new VAs do amazing impressions of them.
The thing what is mindblowing to me is the entire soundtrack. It's amazingly good. I mean, I could imagine this soundtrack in a 100 million dollars budget game.
There's one very small reference to Aperture Science in this game; I'll be impressed if you spot it. It won't be for a while yet though.
Killing vorts is sad, but they do get some interesting new narrative scenes and game mechanics in Xen to better contextualise their role and link them to Half Life 2.
Oh and if your sad about the vortigaunts, you get your redemption! Steady course
9:10 this whole character age thing hits so close to home. I remember when I found out Timmy Turner was 10 while I was 10. It blew my mind, made me feel so represented lol. And finding out I was older than characters too later on was insane as well.
I believe @20:10 writers are actually talking about this game.
Interesting fact: "Gordon doesnt need to hear all this" guy is Dr. Magnuson himself!
Yes, bald guy somehow grew hair and got facial surgery during a war with aliens
@@herobrine024 if you not believe me read a lot about this guy in internet!
@@buoyancydabl Developer commentary from Episode 2 says that that particular line was used as direction and inspiration for when they created Magnusson. Emphasis on inspiration.
@@herobrine024 well I used to play on russian subtitles, it gets tranlsated wrong I guess.
Fun fact. when you are entering the test chamber. the scientist that says "We have assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong" is voiced by the3 Narrator from The Stanley Parable, Kevan Brighting.
Just realised, the white haired scientist that lets you into the test chamber has the Narrator's voice actor from stanly parable.
15:46 I think all of these are lines from the scientists in the original game. "Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties" definitely is
At 21:15 the dialogue “HELLO Dr Cross” seems to be an Easter egg no one had noticed yet. That, I believe, is Gordon speaking, in reference to the guy who mentioned the ponytail saying “say hi to Dr cross for me”. I never noticed that until just now, thinking it was Dr cross from the coop missions from HL1 it was referencing.
This comment is 6 months old, but I just thought I'd mention that Dr. Cross is a female scientist who is featured in Half Life: Decay. It _is_ an Easter Egg, but that scientist is actually practicing working up the nerve to talk to her.
Im so happy that you decide to play Black mesa hope you like it :D
WAIT IM ACTUALLY SO HYPED WTF
37:28 The balding scientist on the left sounds exactly like the narrator from The Stanley Parable.
Woah, Black Mesa has updated a lot since I played it. I played it around the time they "finished" Zen.
Man… if you don’t already love this game, I guarantee you will. It’s awesome.
I recommend reading the whiteboards they have a lot of interesting info on xen and other stuff
lmao all that stuff at 16:00 were hl1 scientist voice lines, how have i not noticed that
I highly recommend that you look into cut content from all the Half Life and Portal games. Theres some very very interesting stuff to see. Including, particularly in Half Life 2, theres an enemy you can see in the citadel during the pod ride (pretty sure you noticed it during your playthrough) that never appears in game, but has a fully HD model with attack animations and the whole works. Theres plenty of interesting things there that give you an idea of the dev process.
Maybe you could even try out the old Half Life 2 Beta leak? Its soooo much different, but it has weapons like HL1s super unique weapons. If you do play, keep in mind you cant just play it beginning to end, since it was y'know, a beta lol. Its from before they did a complete HL2 rewrite, so its almost all different.
Wow I really didn’t think you would do this after playing HL1. I really can’t wait for you to see how well Xen looks. It took them 8 years to make all the levels from Inbound to Lambda Core, then they waited an additional 7 years to refine the Xen levels.