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bounchfx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,653
Muricas
How are people beating this so quickly, I'm 21 hours in and still on chapter 10. I mean I've taken my time for sure, looking around and stuff. But people are saying they beat it in like 7 hours?!

Another experience I'm having is that this game is so damn intense. Like I actually feel like I'm in it to a preposterous degree - takes it out of you a little but my god is it rewarding. Perfect timing to play it while quarantining also. Feels like I'm escaping into another world completely. Some sci-fi shit.
man seriously I just got done with chapter 3 and for the entire middle part I was just shitting my pants. It's the most tense game I've ever played thanks to the VR aspect and how much of it is done so well.
 

craven68

Member
Jun 20, 2018
4,548
Just want to say this game is amazing !!!! i had a lenovo explorer since it came out. I didn't use it a lot since a lot of game gave me motion sickness etc...Really when i play a vr game, i can't do anything after that since i always fet really bad for some hours. ( yeah really until the night :/).

So i was really scared to try this game , i wanted to since it look so cool to play but should i make the jump ? and yes, i did it. And....this is a first game i feel okay playing in it ! and i feel like i m in the game ! everything is so smooth and pretty, everything work like it should ! maybe Microsoft did a good upgrade in software side too since the launch but wow !

I'm so happy to be able to experience a game like this ! i think it has been the best experience in gaming for me ! to get the feeling to be really in the game! to move and look and forget the real world.

I m really bad at fps, so i m playing in story mode, and even like this i had some really hard jump scare and died since i was so afraid hahahhaha
 

Quample

Member
Dec 23, 2017
3,231
Cincinnati, OH
Can you remove upgrades from guns? Reflex sight is way more annoying than not having it.

I don't think so. Hopefully they do something about it because I totally agree.

And I don't know what it's like on other headsets but the gun angle is wrong on the Rift. It's a few degrees too high when your wrist is straight so you have to bend it down. And finding iron sights in that situation is way easier than finding the red dot. Valve needs to include a calibration method where you can lock in your preferred grip angle. Some of the multiplayer shooters let you do this, hell, even Eleven table tennis lets you do it with the paddle.
 
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mancan

Banned
Mar 29, 2018
457
Why are people not recommending asgard's wrath? It's the longest and most feature rich vr game so far. Extremely polished aswell. 40 hours of rpg gameplay
 

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
I kinda regret not playing around in the apartment more in the beginning. I was just so excited to get started. There's always next time I guess.
 

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
So, our guy Tyler Valve New Network figured out how to play Alyx without VR - the game has built-in scripts that let you just do that.

www.pcgamer.com

Watch Half-Life: Alyx being played without VR

Tools built into the game mean that non-VR mods may be closer than we thought.
For testing purposed for the devs. It's still not half the experience.

I'm glad it's getting highly reviewed on Steam now so when people experience a shitty mod and come leave a review that score will still hold up.
 

VaporSnake

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,603
Just found a Bridges box from Death Stranding hidden under some regular boxes, didn't expect to find something cool like that scavenging for resin!
 

Scruffy8642

Member
Jan 24, 2020
2,849
Alright I'm on chapter 8, getting into more gunfights (and getting exhausted in this hot weather!), and I think this might be the best game experience I've ever had. Everything feels so natural, and you feel like a badass while doing it, even just grabbing boxes and stuff. Gun play mechanics are oh so hectic, but insanely fun. This is the kind of experience VR exists for. It's leagues better than non-VR gaming in every aspect.

There was this one moment I turned a corner and head crab just walked out in front of me, so I pressed up and equipped my pistol, didn't even aim, just popped it 3 times bam done, put my pistol away and kept walking. It was so fucking badass and I lost my shit afterwards, because I'd just done it so naturally without a second thought and without panicking.

Speaking of natural, an enemy threw a grenade at me today, and without even thinking I just grabbed it and threw it back lol. Didn't even consider that you might not be able to throw them back, but of course you could.

Been getting a few glitches where my hands get stuck in the floor, and grey screens that wouldn't go away, and clipping and stuff. It's been a problem with every other VR game I've played so I'm not too bothered by it, but it's still happened more times than I would've liked.

There also has been practically no story so far, or even interactions with other characters which is a bit disappointing. Heard that there's some good stuff near the end so hopefully that's true.
 

DeadlyVenom

Member
Apr 3, 2018
2,763
so Valve lied when they said that VR was the only possible way to play this game?...the presence of the "vr_enable_fake_vr_test" flag implies that the tools needed to play Half-Life: Alyx without VR are already in place

The devs can make the game run without a headset on, that must mean it is entirely playable on mouse and keyboard!


/s
 

Celine

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,030
Why are people not recommending asgard's wrath? It's the longest and most feature rich vr game so far. Extremely polished aswell. 40 hours of rpg gameplay
Probably due to the lack of prestigious brand name attached to it and the fact it is tied to a fraction of the whole VR userbase (Oculus Rift).
It's why for many HL Alyx is the first AAA VR game, casting aside other previously polished VR games like Echo Lone and Asgard Wrath.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
so Valve lied when they said that VR was the only possible way to play this game?...the presence of the "vr_enable_fake_vr_test" flag implies that the tools needed to play Half-Life: Alyx without VR are already in place

vr_enable_fake_vr_test is a CVAR debug flag that's a part of the SteamVR API that lets a developer manually set the camera's coordinates in the world without regard to clip. It's not "playing the game," it's basically no-clip.

There exists flags to manually set any variable that is normally set by hand tracking, because that's how computer programming and debugging works. The problem is that none of that is really fit to be used in any actual playable manner except by VR equipment. Unless you consider pressing keys a bunch of time to manually set your arm's linear velocity to "throw a grenade" to be playing, or flying through walls to be traversing the level.

Saying they "lied" or this was "discovered" is silly since, you know, this is documented in the SteamVR API public manuals. And it exists in every SteamVR title. It's quite literally part of the hand tracking code.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Let me give an example of other CVAR commands that exist in all SteamVR titles to show you the kind of "actions" they are mapping to button presses:

vr_fakehands_hand_forward_left
vr_fakehands_hand_forward_right
vr_fakehands_hand_vertical_left
vr_fakehands_hand_vertical_right
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_x_right
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_y_right
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_z_right
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_x_left
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_y_left
vr_fakehands_hand_rotate_z_left
vr_hand_grab_attachment_tilt
vr_hand_grab_attachment_rotation
vr_hand_origin
vr_hand_skewer_speed
vr_hand_velocity_window
vr_throw_velocity_scale
vr_throw_angle_scale
vr_helmet_roll
vr_helmet_pitch
vr_helmet_yaw

and so forth. These are the "controls" they are mapping to key presses. If you'd like to see more of these CVAR commands, SteamVR publicly outputs them through a web UI-based console whenever it runs. Start any SteamVR game and open a webbrowser and go to http://localhost:8998/console/index.html and the console will pop up. the "list" command will print every available command for debug.
 
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Oct 25, 2017
2,454
So people who have finished... without spoiling anything, do you feel like Valve is going to make another HL game soon or was this more of a one-and-done, stop-asking-about-HL game?
I am not going to say I believe Valve is going to do anything because god knows how many times I've been burned but, without spoiling anything, it would be a huge gut punch if they sit on the property again after this.
 

carmofin

Member
Nov 15, 2017
111
There's a few thing I appreciate quite a bit. For one, the fact that Alyx only has a few weapons is pretty good at retaining Gordons place. Just in general there are many little details that create a state that can believably happen before HL2. Like how the grabbity gloves are rather weak and pathetic next to the gravity gun.
 

Deleted member 16136

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,196
Yeah this game is loaded with that stuff. Always amazing to see something like that in high fidelity and 1:1 scale.

Cant wait to see it, the visuals in this game are insane.

Also, a headcrab jumped at me ........ and landed right into a barrel, poor sod couldnt get out.

ezgif-6-a0ae2423d563bxjr1.gif
 

Zor

Member
Oct 30, 2017
11,315
Just finished it, 9h of gametime (which is surprising because I took my damn time with each area and every review said there's 15-17h), after this I don't want to imagine a Half Life game in anything other than VR, this game spoiled my gaming experience for life.

Wow, it took me 16 hours according to Steam.
 

Mpl90

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,215
A question for those who're already playing it coming from a friend of mine: is Alyx as varied as Half-Life 1/2?
 

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
Just motion sickness. Interestingly continuous movement is fine for me but smooth turning was too much.

I've never been good with smooth turning in VR so I'm surprised I made it so long!
Yeah I think there's something up with smooth turning. Not even Boneworks uses it and they threw most motion sickness concerns out the window.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
are the visuals that big of a difference in using the Valve Index versus something like a Rift S?...how much of the experience would be lost by not using the Index?
 

Zor

Member
Oct 30, 2017
11,315
are the visuals that big of a difference in using the Valve Index versus something like a Rift S?...how much of the experience would be lost by not using the Index?

I can't speak to the Index but I played it through on a Quest using Link on mostly Medium and thought it looked incredible.
 

TheUnseenTheUnheard

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 25, 2018
9,647
are the visuals that big of a difference in using the Valve Index versus something like a Rift S?...how much of the experience would be lost by not using the Index?
I'll just say the screen door effect is almost gone completely with the Index.

You feel like you're there. Not like you're looking through a window screen.
 

Zor

Member
Oct 30, 2017
11,315
I'll just say the screen door effect is almost gone completely with the Index.

You feel like you're there. Not like you're looking through a window screen.

I mean, I feel it's worth underlining my own experience here: if I could press a button or upgrade the Quest in any way to get rid of screen door, I absolutely would. However, it didn't detract from my immersion in any way really. I'm just used to it on Quest. It didn't bug me or take me out of the experience of things like Arizona Sunshine or Lone Echo, and it certainly didn't in Alyx either. YMMV of course.
 

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,337
Yeah I think there's something up with smooth turning. Not even Boneworks uses it and they threw most motion sickness concerns out the window.

The thought of Smooth Turning makes me feel queasy even when I'm not in my VR headset. I tried far too many rough bedroom demos on my DK1 four years ago that had all manner of turning/walking etc, tried to push through the sickness and they fucked me up. Thankfully we know not to do that anymore. I need all of the comfort options.
 

Stallion Free

Member
Oct 29, 2017
930
Played through most of Chapter 3 last night... unbelievably intense. This is the coolest gaming experience I have ever had.
 
Oct 25, 2017
6,453
holy shit -- just played through all of chapter five in one sitting, and man, what a beast of a chapter. so many cool moments throughout.

it turns out the headache i got yesterday was probably from the tiny, almost imperceptible amount of lag that sidequest introduces. playing with link let me play for over two hours without issue. in a way, having a cable is kind of nice, because it lets me quickly orient myself in my room. the fact that there isn't a quick way to pop the guardian or the foot "center" icon from in game is super weird (i know it shows up in the pause menu but its kind of distracting all the same).
 

s2398jgi2jf

Member
Feb 5, 2020
125
Yeah I think there's something up with smooth turning. Not even Boneworks uses it and they threw most motion sickness concerns out the window.


Boneworks uses smooth turning....

For people who have troubles with smooth turning, try turning up the speed of the turn to max. When I was initially getting use to smooth turning (in Lone Echo), faster was better.
 

JohnnyUtah

Member
Jul 15, 2018
416
Listened to a bit of the latest Bombcast and Jeff nitpicks the game hard for a whole lot of menial reasons. I get that it's his shtick these days. But give the game some credit dude. Feels like being contrarian for the sake of it.