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1. Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 19-Nov-2023 23:48:24 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

   "Uh... It's probably not a problem,... probably, but I'm showing a small discrepancy in... well, no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence."

   Happy 25th, Half-Life! 🎂🎉🎈🍾🥂💿

   • AN/CRM-114 (flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 00:34:32 UTC AN/CRM-114

     in reply to

     @dosnostalgic a game that had better writing than most books or movies of the time, let alone games. Time flies 🥂

   • Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 00:34:32 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

     in reply to

     • AN/CRM-114

     @flyingsaceur Alright, let's not get carried away here. Games, possible. A lot of adventure games had great writing though, and 1998 had some pretty great ones. Grim Fandango, anyone? Movies? Come on now. Books? Definitely not.

   • Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 01:06:07 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

     in reply to

     • AN/CRM-114

     @flyingsaceur In the words of Marc Laidlaw, "I still get questions about stuff I spent 5 minutes on 25 years ago from people who thought about it for 25 years". It's all very vague and open to interpretation. It's not that deep. You just read it into it. None of the elements you've mentioned are actually all that well defined.

   • AN/CRM-114 (flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 01:06:08 UTC AN/CRM-114

     in reply to

     @dosnostalgic name one anything that successfully described a three way conflict betweeen radically different factions (scientists, Xen, HECU) while maintaining an outsider perspective (Freeman) and an external antagonist inciting action (Gman). All the small touches making it happen without the player even noticing. It’s a goddamn masterclass

   • Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 01:49:59 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

     in reply to

     • AN/CRM-114

     @flyingsaceur Yes, it works incredibly well. A small team crunching a year for the win. As with most things, it's a miracle that it worked so well, and even more of a miracle that it is exceptional.
     As with most things that are "genius" it is the accessibility that counts. While playing, the entirely of it feels effortless and natural. And that is its true achievement.

   • AN/CRM-114 (flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 01:50:00 UTC AN/CRM-114

     in reply to

     @dosnostalgic Agreed that it didn’t change the world, but its astounding how well it works. The competence of its execution is unrivaled, for an era of interesting failures. When I saw the remains of
     a HECU ambush that had already been slaughtered by Alien Grunts, I got it

   • Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 15:32:35 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

     in reply to

     • AN/CRM-114

     @flyingsaceur Btw, thought of a game that matches your criteria: Thief!
     - 3 conflicting fractions (Keepers, Hammerites, and Pagans)
     - Outsider perspective (Garrett)
     - External manipulator (Trickster)
     And Thief has actual dialogue, and it's very good.

   • AN/CRM-114 (flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange)'s status on Monday, 20-Nov-2023 15:32:36 UTC AN/CRM-114

     in reply to

     @dosnostalgic perfectly stated. You don’t even notice you’re in a corridor the whole time, or even if you do notice, you pretend you didn’t