Me browsing Lemmy, finding this post

You’ve got three guesses!

That aside, I remember back in the day that Op4 received a lot of praise from fans, while Blue Shift was considered by many to be underwhelming. I love them both, but I always thought Blue Shift was the better game. Op4 might be longer and more full of new content, but it’s also all kind of thrown together, playing very loose with the universe. Blue Shift was, by comparison, short, clean, well told, and nailed the setting and gameplay. To me it feels like a very Half-Life game, whereas Op4 feels more like fanfic, like the most impressive single player Half-Life mod ever made.

I agree with you. I’m a huge fan of the series, and I love them all, but I also think my favourite will always be the first one. I honestly think there are many parts of its design that are just impressive, but also subtle enough that they are rarely recognised.

It does of course also have its weak points, that can be critiqued, but I would be boring you with a nitpicky critique, in a long form format, outside the scope of what anyone would want from a Lemmy comment, if I started on that, I think.

I do think Half-Life qualifies as a masterpiece, though. That’s why I am always sad to see when it is recommended to newcomers to the series as the way to experience original, you know? Hell no. It’s an inferior game in many ways.

Black Mesa was a really fun fan homage to Half-Life. I played it several times, and I’m glad that it exists. I think it’s great that it sometimes put its own spin on things, instead of trying to be a 1:1 recreation (because, then, what would be the point, when Half-Life already exists?), but there were some of its design choices that seemed kinda not thought through, and randomly contrarian to its source (pun not intended, hah) material. Its soundtrack was also stupefying… Not only was it bad, in terms of quality, but it seemed like an antithesis to Half-Life’s soundtrack, which was very head-scratching, considering that the game seemed to try to aim at capturing the spirit and essence of Half-Life.

I remember that the sound of his voice surprised me a lot, but I really like it. It honestly sounds a lot more normal than I would have expected - but I guess the voice is the difference between a god and a fake god!

Yes, that’s the issue.

TF2 lawyers, it would seem.
Their legal Offense has evidently been workgrouped by Scout, Soldier and Pyro, judging by this particular legal argument. To think the Mercenaries would turn on their creator… Well, they’re mercenaries!