I want i little talk about HLS. Part 1 cannot wrote all. Little about what valve could do, what they didn't. And why i think it is... was at least. Underrated and fans just overreact a to much. I think valve did not bad port. Actually good. cosidered one fact. That it actual port, not remake. Not remaster. Just putting assets of one game, to the engine of another. Valve wanted to show how source enhancement affect hl1. And it did pretty well. better lightning, better shaders. flashlight. very cool. But what went wrong ? I think, that valve didn't push right thing in all the way. I think they didn't have to put gearbox HD models inside, but actually put original HL1 models, with orignal hl1 textures. And also, added at least bumpmaps to them "But 3037 ! bumpmaps on hl1 models will look bad, and envmaps look bad on maps already, just launch game !" you might say. And you will be right, partially. wellmade normalmaps just add some depth to the model, hl1 models have plenty fake depth, to its't not make big difference. about envmaps. Yes, they look bad, now. When hls came out, envmaps looking pretty fine. But still have problem. And i even can tell why. Valve put absolute minimum of this thing on maps. They definitely can, in that time, put more. i tested, it help's a lot. You can look at resized maps to see for youself, author actually put more then original. And about models. If there needed amount, not minimum. It would be a great replace of that horrible envmaps that should represent chrome, especially in modern hls. You can say it would became too shiny. But i disagree, you could make them perfect in color scheme as original, but being actuall reflections. Next. It is a little one. HD weapons models from gearbox. Valve broke sound of that. Funny thing, but they didn't. it still have sounds. Problem is little bit deeper. Valve broke all custom sounds that can be attached to the model, by that model. Which metod is used for them. in hl2 it can be done only by code.
No matter how you sugarcoat it, it's still trash in my opinion (as it stands today). And Valve ruined their reputation in my eyes a little bit by not fixing anything they themselves broke.
Yup. For no fixing, or fixing reduntant thing. They deserve hate.
"Hate" is not what I said, don't twist my words please. I said "ruined the reputation ---in my eyes--- ---a little bit---". And not fixing it only shows that they don't care about their products. Half-Life 2 is also broken in some aspect which fans (again) fixed by themselves. They release it and don't care afterwards.
I mean hate from me. Almost all of valve games, if not all of them. A broken in one way or another. And seems like the more older games, the valve cares less. exception is of course HLS. Valve just abandonned it. i suppose because of fan backlash. I personally hate them. Not much but still. Main reason - HL1 abandoned not only on supporting the game sense (even if they "drop" new updates. They so insignificant, so useless, so reduntant. So it is like nothing) but storywise. Elements from hl1 now using as funny reference (ahaha. That person from Black Mesa. Do you remember it ? ahaha) or consequence from HL1 just resolved in background.
My bad, thought you being sarcastic. lmao. I feel like they put all they can before release and making a great game. But when the release happens, they just stop caring, unless it's a profitable game like csgo or tf2.