The first thing that struck me when I played this chapter back in the day was the lighting and atmosphere of the first map, and how different it was from the last chapter. The sky is tinged a blood red, smog from the distant Tower obscures much of the area, and the numerous mutilated corpses of Houndeyes and Bullsquids, along with the creepy ambience and mysterious rumbling of the ground gives off a feeling of hostility that wasn't very present when Gordon first got to Xen. Once the Gonarch emerges from the ground, this all makes sense - if Xen was thematically a chapter about the beauty of the borderworld, then Gonarch's Lair is Gordon's descent into Hell and all its trials and tribulations as he gets closer to the Tower. Black Mesa's Gonarch's Lair transforms the titular boss from HL1 into an intelligent, aggressive and powerful enemy. Where before she was only limited to a slow ranged mortar attack and short-ranged melee, she can now punt logs, spray acidic spit in quick succession, close large distances by charging, and knock Freeman clean off the map if he is foolish enough to get close to her. Where players can easily cheese the original boss fight by shooting from places she cannot traverse, she now punishes this by shelling the player from afar. And where HL1's fight is a quick series of arenas interconnected by short corridors, Black Mesa extends the length of the chapter, forcing players into intense chase sequences and situations that emphasize the fact that you are trespassing in the domain of a deadly, relentless enemy. The above is very effective because, over the course of these three maps, it allows players to develop a relationship (albeit a hostile one) with the Gonarch. Gordon isn't simply unloading his arsenal into the beast all the time; encounters such as the pit filled with baby headcrabs and the mad dashes in the crystal caverns with her right on your heels help accentuate the Gonarch beyond just another bullet-sponge enemy - this one is actively adapting to its environment to try to kill you, much like how Gordon must in turn adapt to defend himself and come out on top. The buildup of this worthy adversary has a grand payoff in the final arena, but Black Mesa also does a great job in giving character to the Gonarch, and hammering home the point that she is merely protecting her territory, just like countless animals on Earth. I always felt that this is reflected in the soundtrack that bookends the final arena (Internal Conflict), as the vocals seem to imply a twinge of sadness and compliment the limping Gonarch in the last phase of the battle very well. Both her and Gordon are much alike in this regard - both are simply trying to survive to see the next day in a hostile environment.
Well said! There aren't many out there who'd put their heart and soul into gameplay footage, let alone their thoughts concerning the experiences of the characters. If there ever was a "true" Half-Life fan, i'd mark you as the definition of one.
@@Validatormaybelater Half-Life fans are some of the most dedicated and devoted gamers out there :) our ability to keep talking about these timeless gems is incredible despite a 13 year drought with no new entry. I love your videos man, I'd say you are a true Half-Life fan yourself as well :P
Just to give you guys a sense of how long this took me and how much of a pain in the ass this chapter was to record: - The first encounter took me over 1000 recordings - The last encounter took me over 600 recordings - I'd say roughly 30% of those recordings contained bugs that compromised the quality I was going for, and I had to restart (Gonarch freezing in place, getting stuck in the map, etc.) - Every time I got caught on a random prop in the arenas (which happened VERY OFTEN in the first and last encounters) and got crushed by the Gonarch, I restarted - Every time I wasn't able to properly Long Jump away from the Gonarch because of the terrain or because I clipped a corner of a prop or object, I restarted - Every time a rocket sailed right through the Gonarch and did not register a hit, causing me to screw up the timing with the music, I restarted - Every time a Baby Headcrab jumped in front of my rocket and detonated it right in my face, I restarted - Really, every time something screwed up my timing with the music, no matter how small, I restarted I love this game to death, but I don't think I'm going to touch this chapter for a long, long time after this haha. To be VERY fair to the game and the developers, a large part of this was my own sense of perfectionism, and how bothered I'd be if I messed up something as simple as a mouse movement to look at something in the video. So I really only have myself to blame!
The amount of effort you put into these videos is really stunning and genuinely does pay off. Sorry this chapter broke you so hard! I shudder to think what Interloper is going to be like!
the effort you put into this shows! Nothing jarring, just pure action sequence. I was gonna compliment you on taking so little damage throughout the fight. It really helps maintain that feeling that Gordon is preternaturally competent at combat.
_(Gordon after exhausting his entire supply of explosives which seemingly had no effect on the creature)_ _IS THIS GOD?!_ _AM I FIGHTING GOD?!_ *_IS THIS WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE?!_*
i CANNOT believe that I completely missed the easter egg with barney's voicemail!! that was genuinely one of the coolest things I've seen in this game. Even the way it paid homage to that little line in episode one which explains how Gordon and Barney raced each other to unlock Kleiner's lab. i DIED laughing... so mad I never heard this in game but so glad I found it here
Honestly it's a pretty tough easter egg to find, considering that you can only trigger it AFTER killing the Gonarch and by locating some obscure hard to see graffiti in the corner of the map. I wonder if the first player to find it legitimately happened across it or if they were just noclipping around the map and discovered it.
@@Sexy_Nutella Oh, is that right? I thought it was available from the start and I had somehow missed it on both runs. I feel less guilty about it now, but I still wish I could've seen it for myself. Still, you do a good job of putting these things in your videos!
One thing I love about your gameplay is how you always manage to convey realistically how Gordon would act in these situations. Like at 29:09 as the gonarch busts in Gordon looks at the passageway and kinda goes “should I do that, YES I SHOULD” as the gonarch charges him. It’s so good
the fact that this boss battle doesn't leave you with satisfaction, but with a sense of blame, knowing that you killed a mother who was just desperately trying to protect her nest and children. once you kill gonarch you understand, that since you entered xen, you became the alien, the monster, the intruder in charge of destroying their world
Nah Freeman was teleporting to Interloper. But Freeman was interrupted by Gornarch. So Freeman had no choice… but to protect himself too. Nihilanth is the one to blame, he controls Xen and stop Freeman from reaching him in the beginning of Xen.
This is some of the coolest shit i've ever seen in my entire life. It wasn't in any way dissapointing, but extremely hyping episode. Your dedication and persistence brings us some of the best content we could even just imagine. This whole chapter is, by far, the meaning of a perfect run. Very good job on this, my man, i'm extremely hyped to see the next chapters coming with Interloper. But now talking about the game itself... In the first moments when you step on the island and hear Gonarch growls underground, it's like you don't know what's happening, but the science team do. An then, seeing just a bunch of supply capsules coming in full of rockets, and then you see in the Suit's HUD there are some "Messages" typing you some tips about the long jump module usage, like if the scientist were aware of the potential danger you were facing, they just crossed fingers to see if you would manage to use the teleporter or not, in case of not, they would simply give you support to take the alternate path, wishing you the best of luck, because at first they didn't planned you to kill the Gonarch, bc if an entire and prepared survey team couldn't, neither could you... And that's what i think the Nihilanth meant about "You cannot win". But anyways, at all, dude... All that was some of the best details this game could've bring us. And as before in the previous chapters, i still think in this game (imo) as a huge miss the fact that you don't encounter with other alive survey team members, so you wouldn't be completely alone fighting those things. It would be cool to be fighting next to other scientists, and also talking with them, saying you all the things about Xen, its fauna, flora and other things that you never knew about the borderworld, don't you think?
Wow, that's a great analysis on how the Lambda team was feeling when Gordon teleported here. They were probably panicking and sending those caches through just to help Gordon survive. Great note on the Long Jump Module tips, I didn't even think of the fact that the Lambda Team probably sent those to his HUD (if that is possible considering he's in another dimension). I actually do like the fact that Gordon is alone, and the only survey members he encounters are all dead. Adds to the feeling of isolation and emphasizes the fact that he is alone in his crusade to close the rift. Thanks for your support and kind words as always :)
@@Sexy_Nutella Gordon is gonna need MASSIVE amounts of therapy after everything (which hopefully, we will do see in time... Valve pls). I refer therapy as a mass noun at this point because there is no quantifying how much of his psyche has been, and will be, potentially screwed with all this. feelsbadman.jpg :C
Glad you mentioned it! Internal Conflict is one of my favourite songs on the album and I wanted to create a sense of progression with both it and the final battle
ADDITIONAL NOTES/TRIVIA: The secret portal/room at 8:36 contains many easter eggs and elements of the game's ARG: 1) A portal/gate that references the Asura gates from the game Guild Wars (it also blinks multiple colors periodically - see 12:10 - according to the Black Mesa Discord this represents a key to decrypting a message that developer Chris Horn had included in his Meet the Developers interview) 2) Two scientist corpses, both with Horn's name on them (9:15) 3) A whiteboard with a bunch of what I assume to be ARG clues (9:31) 4) A radio message left by the one and only Barney Calhoun, friend of Gordon and important ally in HL2, and the playable character in the HL1 expansion Blue Shift (9:37). The vent conversation that closes out the message is a reference to Alyx Vance's comments in Chapter 3: Lowlife of HL2:EP1, where it is revealed that Gordon and Barney regularly raced each other through the vents to recover Dr. Kleiner's keys whenever he locked himself out of his office in Black Mesa. I have to admit I'm not well-versed in the game's ARG. So if you guys have anything cool to add with regards to the above, by all means share it in the comments below :)
I made an animation about this! ua-cam.com/video/s2zOGDcXghA/v-deo.html I really love Crowbar Collective's attention to detail, I can't wait to see what project they work on next.
@@M1389-v2o If you read the clues, there's a hidden path. You can bring a poison canister along it and use it to poison her to avoid the fight. Or you could just use the hidden path to bypass her entirely and not kill her.
back in the lab theres a container that Kills head crabs, you gotta carry that to a teleporter, and when she starts to chase ya there's a hidden path that leads to that teleporter in the boss room, that path is accesible even if you dont have the cotainer and could just leave
Loved the atmosphere of this chapter. When it starts and you walk around the map and find crate after crate being supplied to you, and then new instructions pop on the screen for the long jump module, that's when you get this intense feeling that shit's about to go down. Finally stepping into the "portal" and have Gonarch appear before your eyes was such a rewarding feeling after everything you did in the previous chapter to get here. God, I'm obsessed with this game. HL2 was always superior to HL for me, but playing BM from start to finish has just made me fall in love with the original Half-Life to the extent I can't even play 2 and its episodes. Black Mesa is such an amazing place to be in, and then Xen, it's just amazing to relive everything where it all started time and time again. I adore this remake so wholeheartedly, it's ridiculous. Truly, splendid job Nutella! If this chapter broke you and your sanity, I can only pray for you because of what's in store with Interloper, lol. Thank you for your hard work and making me fall in love with this game each time!
Great comment on the buildup to the actual fight - the spawning in of the caches and the long jump instructions, alongside the hostile feeling of that first arena really do point towards something big happening. Yes, Interloper's gonna be a huge pain haha, but I'll get through it eventually. Thanks for the support :)
Being 100% serious. The first 7 minutes of this video, during my time playing through BM blind, were some of the most enthralling minutes of *any* video game I've *ever experienced.* Joel Nielsen is one of the biggest reasons why. The score having no beat and no percussion was such a massive risk because he had to put his faith in the devs to ensure the encounter made the player feel the impending doom and existential dread that the soundtrack crafts. No breakbeats or stuttered beats are needed, no heavy pounding drums to force you to feel what is going on--just you, the Alien, facing off against a force of otherworldly nature that wants to take revenge upon you for slaughtering 100s, if not 1,000s of its children. You are the real monster.
This wasn't mentioned, but I love the detail. The conversation regarding Dr. Kleiner being locked out of his office at 11:48 is a reference to HL2. Alyx brings up how Freeman is well acquainted with vents (I believe in Episode One). She says the Barney and he would both compete to see who could help Kleiner into his office when he locked himself out the fastest by crawling through the ventilation. Apparently Gordon has a long history of this. I just love the little casual detail.
A lot of effort in this video, I could already see, without even reading your comment about it. I really like what they done to this chapter, in the original it was too short, and easy to cheese. This one tho was really well designed. Some purist might say "it wasn't inteded to be like this, so I don't like it. It's supposed to be just a short boss battle chpter!" - To which I'd say, none of the Xen chapters were like how the devs were intended, but they were short on time. So Crowbar Collective had every right to really redesign these chapters. My only problem with this is the wter section near the end fight. It is a cool area, with some puzzle. But it really breaks up the pace. Wish it was moved to after the Gonarch fight, but befure the Gargantua chase.
I am glad the effort shines through! Totally agree on the length, I'd imagine some of the devs from HL1 probably looked at this and nodded their head in approval as the vision they had from the start, perhaps. I myself was fine with the water puzzle, I'm guessing the devs' intent was for it to serve as a kind of "breather" after that chase with the Gonarch. I can totally see why you think it breaks up the pacing though!
It's crazy how, despite how much larger it is, Black Mesa's version of this chapter still has the same number of maps as the original (3). I also love how the first and final arena are modeled after the originals too.
Yeah, once the Gonarch fell down from the top in the final arena I immediately knew that it was a callback to it falling through the webbing in the original. Super cool to see :)
To be honest, I find underwater barnacles terrifying because how it looks like, as soon as I touch the underwater barnacle, I get scared for odd reason. Aside from that, this video actually looks amazing.
They are quite terrifying, the thought of having this hideous underwater creature pulling you inside its mouth...while you are helpless to do anything. Fortunately, Gordon has his arsenal :P
How many takes man... Good gravy it must have been at least 80-90 or something Edit: Nevermind, you did take some breaks. Good. There's no way you could have practiced almost 40 minutes of gameplay and gotten a perfect run in only one haha
You caught me haha! This video is broken into several chunks, as you said it'd be impossible for me to show all this in one go. I mean I guess I technically COULD...but at the cost of my sanity... ;) Recording attempts were way more than that, numbering in the 1000s. This chapter broke me haha :(
¡Tu estilo de juego es demasiado bueno! Creo que no soy el único que diga que tienes una hermosa forma de jugar. Adoro como observas e interactúas con los escenarios, descubrí tu canal el año pasado y no me arrepiento de ver tus videos... son obras maestras.
I am going to watch this tonight and savour it like a fine wine: phone on Do Not Disturb, door locked and barricaded, headphones on, computer chilled to just the right temperature (taking the wine metaphor too far...)
@@Sexy_Nutella Loved it! Knew I would. Your timing with the music is on point, as ever. And your pinned comment is right about the game, weirdly, making you feel pity for the Gonarch. I especially noticed this in the last arena fight, where you can see how bloodied she is. Like you say in your post, she's just trying to survive and has little patience for orange-suited monkeys invading her domain. This chapter really plays on the feeling of being hunted, much more so than in HL1. Excellent tension throughout. 38:03 I noticed here how you actually seem to outrun your RPG. The slow RPG speed is one of the few things that bug me about this game - in reality they move hundreds of metres per second. (It's also weird how all the tanks in the game shoot slow-moving RPG rounds, unlike the fast-moving shells in HL1.) I've recently rewatched some of your HL2 videos, and the RPG speed in that game is much more appropriate. I seem to remember you posting at one point how the devs did this on purpose specifically to balance the Gonarch fight.
@@leoduncan1542 Glad you liked it! About the RPG, yeah I remember reading somewhere that it was to balance the Gonarch fight, though the rocket speed seemed to have decreased even compared to my 2019 playthrough. I do find it weird that the Abrams shells also fire that slowly, but I guess it's again to balance the game.
This is epic! Especially the last fight. I came here after I played the chapter today for the first time (also on hard), to see how others have managed to take her down. Awesome show man, Respect! This is for me truely one if the most epic chapter, boss fight and music in my long gaming career. What a joy! Respect to the devs!
What I love about this is that the level title card doesn't show up until you enter the cave gonarch retreats into. You are hunting it down into it's own lair.
Thank you - I definitely approached this video as if I was holding a camera :) It's hard to see in the video due to UA-cam's compression, but I was actually zooming into the final member of the survey team that died in Gonarch's Lair - you can slightly see him impaled on a spike. Apologies, it didn't turn out as great as I wanted it to
Regarding what I said about the areas that correspond to the second map from the original: the Resonance Cascade flashback is the entry tunnel with the Xen Trees, the webbing room to the Houndeye section is the bounce pad pit, the crystal cavern is the bottomless pit in the center.
I love how the Gonarch acts like an actual animal here, she (prob a she right?) starts with little attacks trying to make you go away, throwing stuff at you and rushing like a animal trying to scare you, and then after your hurt her she becomes the one hunted and escapes from you multiple times, and then after a while she straight up just wants to murder you, trying to crawl through tight spaces JUST to get to you and kill you, fantastic imo
As much as I can gush about about the build up to this boss, I won't simply because everyone else already did. But I will say I love the late title drop for the chapter. After a brutal fight against the most aggressively tough enemy in the game (assuming you are playing on hard) she runs off. It appears you beat her but you didn't win. You only survived. You follow her because it's the only way to continue. Gonarch's Lair You've only just started. And honestly the chapter never loses the intensity from there (aside from the brief water puzzle but it serves as a break before the final battle). Like Surface Tension, the whole thing plays out like some kind of crazy-ass movie! Probably my favorite chapter in the game.
Love this analysis! I too love what Crowbar Collective did with the opening fight. Holding off on showing the Gonarch until AFTER Freeman activates the teleporter subverts the expectations of those who've played HL1 and ups the tension. The titledrop afterwards is a perfect indirect way of telling the players that this is just the beginning.
I like the little headshake you did after the Barney voicemail, as if Gordon, from all the way in Xen, likely a month or even a year from then, was confirming that no, Barney did not in fact beat Gordon. :)
I've just relized that in the definitive edition, there is this (small) plastic 'scope' in front of the crossbow and when you zoom into the actual scope it perfectly lines up with the small plastic 'scope'
I think that is also in past editions of the game, if you're referring to the fact that the Crossbow projects a smaller version of what you're looking at in its scope. I could be wrong though
@@Sexy_Nutella it's funny because during that run if you jump on the bridge the wrong way you'll end up falling through and dying. Well one time I was playing through and the fire burned up the bridge before the goldart got there so the goark just jumped off the ledge and the game soft locked 😂😂
The only minor problem with this episode for me is music somewhere between 16:00 and 26:00 - it just seems too peaceful. At that time Gonarch is chasing you, doing her best to kill the intruder. I guess, adding some tension and disquietness in the background music would have worked better. Well, it still looks awesome. Thank you for your dedication, Sexy Nutella!
There is a track that plays in that time range you mentioned, though it's not as high-energy as the other ones - it's called "Lair" I believe. Personally I thought it fit that section pretty well, given that you are really in the heart of her domain at that point in time. Thanks for the comment! :)
@@Sexy_Nutella OK, the track on it's own works fine. I guess the problem is how music sometimes is drowned by SFX like steps (Freeman's and Gonarch's), gunshots, local wildlife minding it's own business, etc. And as for the moment when Gonarch attacks Gordon from above - 20:50 - 21:30 - it really doesn't fit.
@@vadimsharanda1052 I can respect that! For my personally I do like how it's more subdued, and low-key full of dread. But I can see your perspective too!
THE LAST ENCOUNTER WAS TOO GOOD!!!!!! It was worth the effort, man! Congratulations and damn... thanks for all these, really! Excited AND worried about Interloper, both because of how you'll pull off the elevator fight AND how you'll pull off the elevator fight. (And yes, it is my personal fave--Gluon spam x the elevator soundtrack just makes me go nice.mp4.) Take your time, though! Gonna rewatch your other plays for the meantime because yes. (NGL though, I wish I had a better PC to be able to handle these games, and a VR set for Alyx, of course. Woe is me who's only played HL1 and HL2 + EPs via their respective PS consoles literally more than a decade ago. I am super sure it's all gonna be a million times better if I experience all this firsthand.)
Thank you for the kind words! I have some ideas for the elevator battle in Interloper which will likely make it a real pain to go through...even longer than this chapter I'd wager haha....but all in due time :) Half-Life: Alyx is definitely worth playing through firsthand, preferably blind if you have managed to avoid spoilers up to this point. The ending to that game is absolutely insane. One of the best gaming experiences I've ever had in my life.
@@Sexy_Nutella No problemo! Ready yourself for more words of thanks because yes. ;) I'M NOW EXCITED FOR ELEVATOR FIGHT X 247!!!!!!!! ASDFGHJKL GLUON GUN GO BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR but don't brrrrrr yourself though! D: And I've spoiled myself on HLA. Just couldn't help it, man. T^T I can't wait for the first-hand experience though. It will be my first VR game, if ever. Deffo gonna save up for it someday (which will likely last me a decade because medschool is killer :( ).
Freeman teleports closer to the nihilanth's tower, unfortunately inside the gonarch's lair, the landscape would seem rougher, and freeman would have to fight a giant headcrab in a game of cat and mouse to escape the lair.
Silly question: How do you do all of this without any problems coming like: -Lag -Bloomers -Have to brb etc?! I really love your videos on how you play as Gordon in this, it inspired me to make a Half-LIfe comic on how Gordon reacts to stuff and doing it based on your video gameplays. Keep up the fantastic work!
Hopefully I don't ruin the illusion for you, but this is not one single uninterrupted run - it's actually a series of clips cut together to create one seamless experience. Believe me, I want nothing more than to try to show all this in one go, but it's just not possible with everything I want to show. This video already took me a month's time of work to get to this level of quality with multiple cuts, sometimes even within one map. Thanks for the comment - if you don't mind sharing, would I be able to take a look at your comic. Sounds super cool!
@@Sexy_Nutella I wish you good luck on making Interloper due to how. -Long the chapter is. -How difficult it'll be with the enemies like Alien Controllers and Grunts attacking you at the same time with controlled Vortigaunts. -And especially the lag on how big the maps are. Alien Controllers sometimes may have a chance of crashing the game from their attacks or controlling the Vortigaunts. This is from my experience so far.
@@standardzombie3454 Oh yeah, the Interloper maps aren't optimized too well, so recording gameplay is gonna be a real pain. I hope the end results will be worth it though!
@@Sexy_Nutella It’s actually pretty easy. Just simply use the crowbar once it’s shooting out acid. You don’t actually need to hit it at the final blow.
One thing i loved about this chapter was how much development the Gonarch has, it is arguably one of the strongest and most resistant beings in Xen, launching dozens of explosives at it will not even scratch her at first, but as gordon progresses and manages to deal more and more damage to her, you can see that she just starts to go more desperate and annoyed (you can see that she's already very hurt and damaged at the end of the final battle), just using literally everything she has to eliminate this intruder that somehow managed to survive her attacks. Honestly, just seeing her going berserk and launching multiple mortar attacks while barely even being able to stand anymore, and Gordon just launching more and more explosives into her, made me feel a bit bad for her. She was just a mother trying to protect her numerous children and get rid of the intruder that was just trying to get out of her way and continue his path through this borderworld. Just shows how much of an awesome reimagine of this scene the developers did compared to the "souless" original one, fantastic!
@@marthaacosta7739 Not sure if I will, I can hep you in this comment chain if that works. The Steam Workshop page does a pretty decent job of explaining
One thing that confused me on my first time through was why the BMST starts teleporting crates of rockets and ammo into the arena before the gonarch shows up. But it makes more sense when you realize that they're tracking you and know exactly what lurks in that area, and are using it to *warn you.*
Fighting Gonarch is _hard_ and this walkthrough is turning out to be invaluable to me. I've got as far as the narrow space at 22:00 and thought that it was the final battle (where I kept dying), but watching this showed me a way out of that area. Possibly my computer won't let me finish though (it's pretty low-end), as soon as I saw Gonarch here it slowed right down even though it's been absolutely fine on these setting up to now. I've gone down to 'potato' graphics at 1024x768 and framerates are decent again but there may be more slowdowns up ahead..
@@Sexy_Nutella Yes, I've finished the game now (thanks to you). It's seems that particular lighting effects during combat are causing the slowdowns rather than the general load of the game, so maybe my DirectX isn't up to date. I had a similar experience during the final battle in interloper, but then Nihilanth ran ok. The only bottleneck I might have is that the graphics card (GTX650) has only 1Gb of RAM, however 99.9% of the game runs perfectly, so think a tweak or two should solve this..
I don't know if you still read these comments but did you intentionally sync the C4 detonations to the music at 26:46? It's on the offbeat even I think. Makes my brain very happy :)
I try to read every comment! And yes, definitely intentional :) I also timed shots such as at 26:30 and 26:38 to the beat. When everything's in sync with the music, I think it makes for a more engrossing viewing, hence why I do them
0:50 desde el comienzo había mucho *Houndeye* muertos y también *Bullsquid* me imagino q lo hizo *Gornach!* 10:25 fue increíble ver la cueva secreta y también escuchar el mensaje de *B.Calhoun* y q también dejó pizza! Bueno, se q acá todo hablan en ingles y yo en español pero bueno la batalla con *Gornach* fue lo mejor. Buena jugada *Sexy Nutella* seré paciente de esperar el siguiente cap👍🏻.
No se preocupe, siempre puedo usar Internet para traducir sus palabras :) Gracias por el comentario. ¡Tienes razón, el Gonarch definitivamente se comió esos pobres Houndeyes y Bullsquids!
@@Sexy_Nutella Remember what I said about how a lot of the expansion in this version of Xen involves Valve's unused ideas? That becomes apparent when you compare a lot of the new environments to the concept sketches in HL2: Raising the Bar.
I personally interpreted it as linking the teleporter to the top of the Tower. So Gordan might've been teleported up there if the Gonarch didn't sabotage it.
@@Sexy_Nutella Yep, seems Nihilanth lure Gonarch, which actually Gonarch didn't trying to attack gordon she just some wildlife mamalia and gordon just scramble nest that's why she's piss off.. really like how gordon didn't really care about Gonarch he just care only his journey to kill Nihilanth...
@@Sexy_Nutella Managed to do it eventually, but thanks anyway. The second stage of the second encounter was so much easier than the first stage. Also, the 2nd Gonarch fight is so much more difficult than even the Nihilanth.
While its kinda cheap i like to dump all my satchels at the first teleporter site. When gonarch comes and breaks everything shes right on top of them and takes the damage of like 6 rockets at once
After not focusing on the video and just reading the comments like I always do, I am gonna ask you this, are you replying (and hearting) every comment? If you are, cool. By the way, thanks for making this gameplay, I got so confused and I looked on your other Black Mesa playlist, only to realize I was on Definitive Edition.. I know, I’m.. I’m dumb. The one on Earth chapter I got stuck on the most was office complex, well, at least the end of it. I was on the other playlist and the doors in the freezer area was open so I thought to myself “how da heck is dis guy openin da doors? i cannot!” then a few days later I realized I was on Definitive Edition. Good luck on Interloper, and Nihalinth. Hopefully I get the other Half Life games, along with Alyx. I only have Black Mesa.. Thanks for reading this comment with idk how many words!
Thank you for the comment! Glad my videos managed to help out :) I am excited for you to experience the other Half-Life games, they are all great. HL2 is my personal favourite but Alyx comes close.
Is the portal at 8:32 only in the definitive version? I've tried multiple times to get into that secret room but I must not have the right version for it then... Nevermind, it triggered after I summoned Gonarch. Thanks for this, I would have never found it :D
Question: What do you have your graphics settings set as? For some reason in the swamp section for me there's no fog and the lighting is...too sharp, which makes the whole area look terrible. Are you using any mods or console commands for that?
I don't use any graphical mods or commands aside from the particle enhancement project, which shouldn't affect the maps themselves. Everything else is set to HIGH, with Godrays at LOW. I did run into issues with maps being overly green and missing shadows - is this what you're running into? It happened to me in the third map of "Xen" after leaving the big tree. A quick reload solved that for me.
@@Sexy_Nutella Thanks, I've figured out the problem. Yeah a part of the problem was missing shadows. The fog and other effects also weren't showing up which was making the whole map look a lot less realistic. But it's back to normal now :)
Nihilanth actually does have his own theme ("Nihilist" in the soundtrack), but it's pretty quiet compared to all the sound effects going on in that fight. I do wish it was a bit louder but I think the composer intentionally designed it to feel more like ambience.
i find it funny how the gonarch took me so many attempts to complete, same for the lobby battle in chapter 11(?), yet i managed to kill the nihilanth on my first try
Yeah it's kinda hard to see eh? I was zooming in on a dead HEV Suit scientist that is impaled on the thorns there - really hard to make out in the video but you can see the trademark orange HEV suit hanging over some thorns. at 38:34. It's the last of the survey team that was tasked with killing the Gonarch. Finding that body nets you an achievement.
Hello, I am making a video on this particular fight in Black mesa. I am focusing on the atmosphere and the fight itself because it is one of those gaming moments that stuck with me. Something that left an impression on me, with the music and the chase and the final climax. Can I use your footage for my video, because unfortunately my PC specs are not high and cannot record my own footage on maximum settings. I will credit you of course!
I'm stuck at the part when the spider is stabbing me from top and sending the small spiders to attack me untill the tnt detonator drop, the first time I died then restart, after that the spider didn't attack me at all!
Seven months late, but there's a little context for you. In Half-Life 2 Episode One, 20 years after the events of Half-Life 1, Alyx talks about Gordon's past, when he used to race Barney through the vents to reach and open Kleiner's office every time he forgot his keys and got locked out.
@@Sexy_Nutella Do you remember the Bloodshot Ramparts in BL2 where you rescue Roland? The music that plays there is pretty awesome and you do end up shooting through a lot of enemies. I dunno. Idea for a video?
@@DBAWESOMESAUCE Thanks for the suggestion! To be honest I don't remember much about the Borderlands 2 story - I played it a long time ago with my cousin in coop haha. I do remember Roland eventually dying though, that caught me off guard. As for making a video on it, to be brutally honest I'm not really interested in making videos for Borderlands 2. Sorry to disappoint :(
@@DBAWESOMESAUCE Sorry to disappoint! I did enjoy that game but it'd be tough for me to get back into it after such a long time haha. I typically do mostly play old games anyway but there's still a bunch of Half-Life content that I'd like to make.
@@Sexy_Nutella I like your videos, man. This Black Mesa Definitive walkthrough is impressive. It's some kind of cinematic gameplay with a realistic point of view, perfectly synchronizing the action sequences with the music. Keep doing a wonderful work. Triple success for ya. I'll be waiting for "Interloper, Nihilanth and Endgame".
![Black Mesa: Definitive Edition - 17a - Interloper [Hard]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QWEq-CIyKAc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Black Mesa: Definitive Edition - 17a - Interloper [Hard]](/img/tr.png)
![Black Mesa: Definitive Edition - 14b - Lambda Core [Hard]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/i2aZDafVR3M/mqdefault.jpg)
The first thing that struck me when I played this chapter back in the day was the lighting and atmosphere of the first map, and how different it was from the last chapter. The sky is tinged a blood red, smog from the distant Tower obscures much of the area, and the numerous mutilated corpses of Houndeyes and Bullsquids, along with the creepy ambience and mysterious rumbling of the ground gives off a feeling of hostility that wasn't very present when Gordon first got to Xen. Once the Gonarch emerges from the ground, this all makes sense - if Xen was thematically a chapter about the beauty of the borderworld, then Gonarch's Lair is Gordon's descent into Hell and all its trials and tribulations as he gets closer to the Tower.
Black Mesa's Gonarch's Lair transforms the titular boss from HL1 into an intelligent, aggressive and powerful enemy. Where before she was only limited to a slow ranged mortar attack and short-ranged melee, she can now punt logs, spray acidic spit in quick succession, close large distances by charging, and knock Freeman clean off the map if he is foolish enough to get close to her. Where players can easily cheese the original boss fight by shooting from places she cannot traverse, she now punishes this by shelling the player from afar. And where HL1's fight is a quick series of arenas interconnected by short corridors, Black Mesa extends the length of the chapter, forcing players into intense chase sequences and situations that emphasize the fact that you are trespassing in the domain of a deadly, relentless enemy.
The above is very effective because, over the course of these three maps, it allows players to develop a relationship (albeit a hostile one) with the Gonarch. Gordon isn't simply unloading his arsenal into the beast all the time; encounters such as the pit filled with baby headcrabs and the mad dashes in the crystal caverns with her right on your heels help accentuate the Gonarch beyond just another bullet-sponge enemy - this one is actively adapting to its environment to try to kill you, much like how Gordon must in turn adapt to defend himself and come out on top.
The buildup of this worthy adversary has a grand payoff in the final arena, but Black Mesa also does a great job in giving character to the Gonarch, and hammering home the point that she is merely protecting her territory, just like countless animals on Earth. I always felt that this is reflected in the soundtrack that bookends the final arena (Internal Conflict), as the vocals seem to imply a twinge of sadness and compliment the limping Gonarch in the last phase of the battle very well. Both her and Gordon are much alike in this regard - both are simply trying to survive to see the next day in a hostile environment.
Well said! There aren't many out there who'd put their heart and soul into gameplay footage, let alone their thoughts concerning the experiences of the characters. If there ever was a "true" Half-Life fan, i'd mark you as the definition of one.
9,40 you find that secret place i sink this is barney 😄
@@Validatormaybelater Half-Life fans are some of the most dedicated and devoted gamers out there :) our ability to keep talking about these timeless gems is incredible despite a 13 year drought with no new entry. I love your videos man, I'd say you are a true Half-Life fan yourself as well :P
@@major778 I loved that entire radio message :)
Hay bru what's up can you play black mesa azure sheep its so amin...
Just to give you guys a sense of how long this took me and how much of a pain in the ass this chapter was to record:
- The first encounter took me over 1000 recordings
- The last encounter took me over 600 recordings
- I'd say roughly 30% of those recordings contained bugs that compromised the quality I was going for, and I had to restart (Gonarch freezing in place, getting stuck in the map, etc.)
- Every time I got caught on a random prop in the arenas (which happened VERY OFTEN in the first and last encounters) and got crushed by the Gonarch, I restarted
- Every time I wasn't able to properly Long Jump away from the Gonarch because of the terrain or because I clipped a corner of a prop or object, I restarted
- Every time a rocket sailed right through the Gonarch and did not register a hit, causing me to screw up the timing with the music, I restarted
- Every time a Baby Headcrab jumped in front of my rocket and detonated it right in my face, I restarted
- Really, every time something screwed up my timing with the music, no matter how small, I restarted
I love this game to death, but I don't think I'm going to touch this chapter for a long, long time after this haha. To be VERY fair to the game and the developers, a large part of this was my own sense of perfectionism, and how bothered I'd be if I messed up something as simple as a mouse movement to look at something in the video. So I really only have myself to blame!
Holy crap, man! Respect! 👏👏👏
The amount of effort you put into these videos is really stunning and genuinely does pay off. Sorry this chapter broke you so hard! I shudder to think what Interloper is going to be like!
I salute your dedication to this wonderful chapter
And it is appreciated! Mad respect!
the effort you put into this shows! Nothing jarring, just pure action sequence. I was gonna compliment you on taking so little damage throughout the fight. It really helps maintain that feeling that Gordon is preternaturally competent at combat.
_(Gordon after exhausting his entire supply of explosives which seemingly had no effect on the creature)_
_IS THIS GOD?!_
_AM I FIGHTING GOD?!_
*_IS THIS WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE?!_*
I can hear that voice in my head. Such a great series :)
I don't get the reference, can someone explain?
@@thegreatestnameever1415 Freeman's Mind: Episode 63, timestapm is 5:20
@@luckylarry71 thanks man. Definitely gonna have to check this out.
I hate this chapter out of them all and one of the weakest for sure.
29:13 If you read the name of this HEV corpse, it is Nielsen written on it. The one who made Black Mesa's legendary soundtrack :)
Yeah I believe all the corpses' names are one of the dev team's. Super cool
i CANNOT believe that I completely missed the easter egg with barney's voicemail!! that was genuinely one of the coolest things I've seen in this game. Even the way it paid homage to that little line in episode one which explains how Gordon and Barney raced each other to unlock Kleiner's lab. i DIED laughing... so mad I never heard this in game but so glad I found it here
Honestly it's a pretty tough easter egg to find, considering that you can only trigger it AFTER killing the Gonarch and by locating some obscure hard to see graffiti in the corner of the map. I wonder if the first player to find it legitimately happened across it or if they were just noclipping around the map and discovered it.
@@Sexy_Nutella Oh, is that right? I thought it was available from the start and I had somehow missed it on both runs. I feel less guilty about it now, but I still wish I could've seen it for myself. Still, you do a good job of putting these things in your videos!
One thing I love about your gameplay is how you always manage to convey realistically how Gordon would act in these situations. Like at 29:09 as the gonarch busts in Gordon looks at the passageway and kinda goes “should I do that, YES I SHOULD” as the gonarch charges him. It’s so good
Glad you picked up on that! A lot went into this to try to portray Freeman as I thought he'd survive through this event
the fact that this boss battle doesn't leave you with satisfaction, but with a sense of blame, knowing that you killed a mother who was just desperately trying to protect her nest and children. once you kill gonarch you understand, that since you entered xen, you became the alien, the monster, the intruder in charge of destroying their world
yeah, same for the votiguants when they get taken over by the alien controllers, they cant help trying to kill you but they have no choice
Nah Freeman was teleporting to Interloper. But Freeman was interrupted by Gornarch. So Freeman had no choice… but to protect himself too. Nihilanth is the one to blame, he controls Xen and stop Freeman from reaching him in the beginning of Xen.
@@MrSeong-kr2djthe Gman might have something to do with it as well.
at least headcrab are now soon become extinct
@@snoopdogssb2 there’s multiple gonarchs across the entirety of Xen.
8:27 "The Pizza Is A LIE!"
The cake, on the other hand, is completely legit.
"You will be baked. And then there will be cake" :P
The cake is a lie and the pizza is the truth
Half life 3 is a lie
Cake is a truth
This is some of the coolest shit i've ever seen in my entire life. It wasn't in any way dissapointing, but extremely hyping episode. Your dedication and persistence brings us some of the best content we could even just imagine. This whole chapter is, by far, the meaning of a perfect run. Very good job on this, my man, i'm extremely hyped to see the next chapters coming with Interloper. But now talking about the game itself... In the first moments when you step on the island and hear Gonarch growls underground, it's like you don't know what's happening, but the science team do. An then, seeing just a bunch of supply capsules coming in full of rockets, and then you see in the Suit's HUD there are some "Messages" typing you some tips about the long jump module usage, like if the scientist were aware of the potential danger you were facing, they just crossed fingers to see if you would manage to use the teleporter or not, in case of not, they would simply give you support to take the alternate path, wishing you the best of luck, because at first they didn't planned you to kill the Gonarch, bc if an entire and prepared survey team couldn't, neither could you... And that's what i think the Nihilanth meant about "You cannot win". But anyways, at all, dude... All that was some of the best details this game could've bring us. And as before in the previous chapters, i still think in this game (imo) as a huge miss the fact that you don't encounter with other alive survey team members, so you wouldn't be completely alone fighting those things. It would be cool to be fighting next to other scientists, and also talking with them, saying you all the things about Xen, its fauna, flora and other things that you never knew about the borderworld, don't you think?
Wow, that's a great analysis on how the Lambda team was feeling when Gordon teleported here. They were probably panicking and sending those caches through just to help Gordon survive. Great note on the Long Jump Module tips, I didn't even think of the fact that the Lambda Team probably sent those to his HUD (if that is possible considering he's in another dimension).
I actually do like the fact that Gordon is alone, and the only survey members he encounters are all dead. Adds to the feeling of isolation and emphasizes the fact that he is alone in his crusade to close the rift.
Thanks for your support and kind words as always :)
@@Sexy_Nutella Gordon is gonna need MASSIVE amounts of therapy after everything (which hopefully, we will do see in time... Valve pls). I refer therapy as a mass noun at this point because there is no quantifying how much of his psyche has been, and will be, potentially screwed with all this.
feelsbadman.jpg :C
@@pizzazzindoofus Yeah. He's completely silent but I'm guessing going through what he does in both games would take a huge toll on anyone
Legit NO ONE is talking about how the music and gameplay come together perfectly at 36:04
Glad you mentioned it! Internal Conflict is one of my favourite songs on the album and I wanted to create a sense of progression with both it and the final battle
ADDITIONAL NOTES/TRIVIA:
The secret portal/room at 8:36 contains many easter eggs and elements of the game's ARG:
1) A portal/gate that references the Asura gates from the game Guild Wars (it also blinks multiple colors periodically - see 12:10 - according to the Black Mesa Discord this represents a key to decrypting a message that developer Chris Horn had included in his Meet the Developers interview)
2) Two scientist corpses, both with Horn's name on them (9:15)
3) A whiteboard with a bunch of what I assume to be ARG clues (9:31)
4) A radio message left by the one and only Barney Calhoun, friend of Gordon and important ally in HL2, and the playable character in the HL1 expansion Blue Shift (9:37). The vent conversation that closes out the message is a reference to Alyx Vance's comments in Chapter 3: Lowlife of HL2:EP1, where it is revealed that Gordon and Barney regularly raced each other through the vents to recover Dr. Kleiner's keys whenever he locked himself out of his office in Black Mesa.
I have to admit I'm not well-versed in the game's ARG. So if you guys have anything cool to add with regards to the above, by all means share it in the comments below :)
I made an animation about this! ua-cam.com/video/s2zOGDcXghA/v-deo.html
I really love Crowbar Collective's attention to detail, I can't wait to see what project they work on next.
I think the 2 HEV corpses are supposed to just be empty suits, hence them both having Horn’s name on them
Wasn't the vent conversation in episode 1?
@@unchayndspersonalaccount7690 typo on my end. Thanks for the correction, I fixed it now :)
@@Sexy_Nutella No prob! 😄
I love that the developers gave you a way to actually not kill her if you read the clues.
How
@@M1389-v2o If you read the clues, there's a hidden path. You can bring a poison canister along it and use it to poison her to avoid the fight.
Or you could just use the hidden path to bypass her entirely and not kill her.
back in the lab theres a container that Kills head crabs, you gotta carry that to a teleporter, and when she starts to chase ya there's a hidden path that leads to that teleporter in the boss room, that path is accesible even if you dont have the cotainer and could just leave
OK that music at 29:10 just slaps, hard. The folks that made Black Mesa really outdid themselves.
The Hunting by Joel Nielsen. One of my favourites as well :)
Loved the atmosphere of this chapter. When it starts and you walk around the map and find crate after crate being supplied to you, and then new instructions pop on the screen for the long jump module, that's when you get this intense feeling that shit's about to go down. Finally stepping into the "portal" and have Gonarch appear before your eyes was such a rewarding feeling after everything you did in the previous chapter to get here. God, I'm obsessed with this game. HL2 was always superior to HL for me, but playing BM from start to finish has just made me fall in love with the original Half-Life to the extent I can't even play 2 and its episodes. Black Mesa is such an amazing place to be in, and then Xen, it's just amazing to relive everything where it all started time and time again. I adore this remake so wholeheartedly, it's ridiculous. Truly, splendid job Nutella! If this chapter broke you and your sanity, I can only pray for you because of what's in store with Interloper, lol. Thank you for your hard work and making me fall in love with this game each time!
Great comment on the buildup to the actual fight - the spawning in of the caches and the long jump instructions, alongside the hostile feeling of that first arena really do point towards something big happening.
Yes, Interloper's gonna be a huge pain haha, but I'll get through it eventually. Thanks for the support :)
Being 100% serious. The first 7 minutes of this video, during my time playing through BM blind, were some of the most enthralling minutes of *any* video game I've *ever experienced.* Joel Nielsen is one of the biggest reasons why. The score having no beat and no percussion was such a massive risk because he had to put his faith in the devs to ensure the encounter made the player feel the impending doom and existential dread that the soundtrack crafts. No breakbeats or stuttered beats are needed, no heavy pounding drums to force you to feel what is going on--just you, the Alien, facing off against a force of otherworldly nature that wants to take revenge upon you for slaughtering 100s, if not 1,000s of its children. You are the real monster.
I particularly liked how the title drop happened only after you fight her off the first time. Epic
Makes you say:
“What the hell was that?”
@S S
Yeah. They're parasitics too.
Remember.
This wasn't mentioned, but I love the detail. The conversation regarding Dr. Kleiner being locked out of his office at 11:48 is a reference to HL2. Alyx brings up how Freeman is well acquainted with vents (I believe in Episode One). She says the Barney and he would both compete to see who could help Kleiner into his office when he locked himself out the fastest by crawling through the ventilation. Apparently Gordon has a long history of this. I just love the little casual detail.
Yup. You can tell the devs are hardcore fans for including that :)
Man, no matter how many times i played this level, it still gets my heart pounding. Watching you play through this level also gets my heart pounding!
I'm glad! Definitely tried to make it as intense as I could.
The Gonarch in BM was actually hard unlike the HL1 Gonarch
Yeah, this one requires you to constantly move around to dodge its attacks.
Yes and I died too much, hated it.
A lot of effort in this video, I could already see, without even reading your comment about it.
I really like what they done to this chapter, in the original it was too short, and easy to cheese. This one tho was really well designed. Some purist might say "it wasn't inteded to be like this, so I don't like it. It's supposed to be just a short boss battle chpter!" - To which I'd say, none of the Xen chapters were like how the devs were intended, but they were short on time. So Crowbar Collective had every right to really redesign these chapters.
My only problem with this is the wter section near the end fight. It is a cool area, with some puzzle. But it really breaks up the pace. Wish it was moved to after the Gonarch fight, but befure the Gargantua chase.
I am glad the effort shines through! Totally agree on the length, I'd imagine some of the devs from HL1 probably looked at this and nodded their head in approval as the vision they had from the start, perhaps. I myself was fine with the water puzzle, I'm guessing the devs' intent was for it to serve as a kind of "breather" after that chase with the Gonarch. I can totally see why you think it breaks up the pacing though!
It's crazy how, despite how much larger it is, Black Mesa's version of this chapter still has the same number of maps as the original (3). I also love how the first and final arena are modeled after the originals too.
Yeah, once the Gonarch fell down from the top in the final arena I immediately knew that it was a callback to it falling through the webbing in the original. Super cool to see :)
I love this game so much. Your playthroughs make me appreciate it even more. Stoked for my favorite chapter next! Excellent work on this one.
You're in luck, I just uploaded the first two maps of Interloper :)
To be honest, I find underwater barnacles terrifying because how it looks like, as soon as I touch the underwater barnacle, I get scared for odd reason. Aside from that, this video actually looks amazing.
They are quite terrifying, the thought of having this hideous underwater creature pulling you inside its mouth...while you are helpless to do anything. Fortunately, Gordon has his arsenal :P
Hands down the best video so far, the build-up to the final sequence makes worth it
Glad you enjoyed it! The final battle is indeed very epic haha
Brasileiro? Estou apaixonado pelo gameplay cinemático desse jovem.
How many takes man... Good gravy it must have been at least 80-90 or something
Edit: Nevermind, you did take some breaks. Good. There's no way you could have practiced almost 40 minutes of gameplay and gotten a perfect run in only one haha
You caught me haha! This video is broken into several chunks, as you said it'd be impossible for me to show all this in one go. I mean I guess I technically COULD...but at the cost of my sanity... ;)
Recording attempts were way more than that, numbering in the 1000s. This chapter broke me haha :(
I'm in my late 50's. That first open arena battle with the Gonarch gave me a couple of PVC's. That shit was awesome.
Oh yeah, they really upped the ante for that first encounter.
I've been waiting for this and it has finally come, i appreciate the hard work good job! 👍❤️
Thanks! Glad you like it!!
I imagined if this playthrough would become a episode of Freeman's mind
Hopefully I don't take that long to finish it! But I do approach each video as a new episode ;)
¡Tu estilo de juego es demasiado bueno! Creo que no soy el único que diga que tienes una hermosa forma de jugar. Adoro como observas e interactúas con los escenarios, descubrí tu canal el año pasado y no me arrepiento de ver tus videos... son obras maestras.
¡Aprecio las amables palabras! Me alegra que disfrutes de este estilo de juego. Espero que sigas disfrutando de esta serie :)
I am going to watch this tonight and savour it like a fine wine: phone on Do Not Disturb, door locked and barricaded, headphones on, computer chilled to just the right temperature (taking the wine metaphor too far...)
I appreciate the dedication to having an undisturbed experience for this video - I hope you enjoy it, and as always let me know what you think :)
@@Sexy_Nutella Loved it! Knew I would. Your timing with the music is on point, as ever. And your pinned comment is right about the game, weirdly, making you feel pity for the Gonarch. I especially noticed this in the last arena fight, where you can see how bloodied she is. Like you say in your post, she's just trying to survive and has little patience for orange-suited monkeys invading her domain.
This chapter really plays on the feeling of being hunted, much more so than in HL1. Excellent tension throughout.
38:03 I noticed here how you actually seem to outrun your RPG. The slow RPG speed is one of the few things that bug me about this game - in reality they move hundreds of metres per second. (It's also weird how all the tanks in the game shoot slow-moving RPG rounds, unlike the fast-moving shells in HL1.) I've recently rewatched some of your HL2 videos, and the RPG speed in that game is much more appropriate. I seem to remember you posting at one point how the devs did this on purpose specifically to balance the Gonarch fight.
@@leoduncan1542 Glad you liked it! About the RPG, yeah I remember reading somewhere that it was to balance the Gonarch fight, though the rocket speed seemed to have decreased even compared to my 2019 playthrough. I do find it weird that the Abrams shells also fire that slowly, but I guess it's again to balance the game.
This is epic! Especially the last fight. I came here after I played the chapter today for the first time (also on hard), to see how others have managed to take her down. Awesome show man, Respect! This is for me truely one if the most epic chapter, boss fight and music in my long gaming career. What a joy! Respect to the devs!
Yeah, I love how they made this boss fight as epic as it was :)
This is good or as M Bison would say: Yes! Yes! Yes!
Ah, Street Fighter. A man of culture I see ;)
What I love about this is that the level title card doesn't show up until you enter the cave gonarch retreats into. You are hunting it down into it's own lair.
Love that title reveal. Black Mesa really had great timings on every chapter title, now that I think about it
It's a lovely hunt between the gonarch and gordon. I love Xen so much haha
This is how you do a gameplay!! thank you so much for this buddy!!
No problem, I'm glad you enjoyed :)
What are you looking at/watching us at 38:35? This was film-making, hugely enjoyable.
Thank you - I definitely approached this video as if I was holding a camera :) It's hard to see in the video due to UA-cam's compression, but I was actually zooming into the final member of the survey team that died in Gonarch's Lair - you can slightly see him impaled on a spike. Apologies, it didn't turn out as great as I wanted it to
Regarding what I said about the areas that correspond to the second map from the original: the Resonance Cascade flashback is the entry tunnel with the Xen Trees, the webbing room to the Houndeye section is the bounce pad pit, the crystal cavern is the bottomless pit in the center.
Oh boy I love fighting big armored crabs with big sacs!
I wonder if the Nihlanth sees Gonarch as a small headcrab, just like a regular headcrab.
Everything's probably real small to the Nihilanth haha
Its so cinematic. Brilliant!
I love how the Gonarch acts like an actual animal here, she (prob a she right?) starts with little attacks trying to make you go away, throwing stuff at you and rushing like a animal trying to scare you, and then after your hurt her she becomes the one hunted and escapes from you multiple times, and then after a while she straight up just wants to murder you, trying to crawl through tight spaces JUST to get to you and kill you, fantastic imo
Yeah, they gave her a ton of personality in this one
As much as I can gush about about the build up to this boss, I won't simply because everyone else already did. But I will say I love the late title drop for the chapter. After a brutal fight against the most aggressively tough enemy in the game (assuming you are playing on hard) she runs off. It appears you beat her but you didn't win. You only survived. You follow her because it's the only way to continue.
Gonarch's Lair
You've only just started. And honestly the chapter never loses the intensity from there (aside from the brief water puzzle but it serves as a break before the final battle). Like Surface Tension, the whole thing plays out like some kind of crazy-ass movie! Probably my favorite chapter in the game.
Love this analysis! I too love what Crowbar Collective did with the opening fight. Holding off on showing the Gonarch until AFTER Freeman activates the teleporter subverts the expectations of those who've played HL1 and ups the tension. The titledrop afterwards is a perfect indirect way of telling the players that this is just the beginning.
I like the little headshake you did after the Barney voicemail, as if Gordon, from all the way in Xen, likely a month or even a year from then, was confirming that no, Barney did not in fact beat Gordon. :)
Glad you appreciated that!
This was epic! So exhausting! At the end your like just DIE already! Glad you managed to complete and upload it 😊👍
Took some doing but I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
from a boring boss fight to a cat and mouse with a pretty good ending and action
this remake is dope just like your roleplay in it
I hate this chapter out of them all and one of the weakest for sure.
Just perfect. Thank you.
I've just relized that in the definitive edition, there is this (small) plastic 'scope' in front of the crossbow and when you zoom into the actual scope it perfectly lines up with the small plastic 'scope'
I think that is also in past editions of the game, if you're referring to the fact that the Crossbow projects a smaller version of what you're looking at in its scope. I could be wrong though
35:23... The beginning of a truly legendary ending.
Indeed. The buildup to the final fight is incredible
@@Sexy_Nutella it's funny because during that run if you jump on the bridge the wrong way you'll end up falling through and dying.
Well one time I was playing through and the fire burned up the bridge before the goldart got there so the goark just jumped off the ledge and the game soft locked 😂😂
@@timebomb42 Haha, yeah, the Gonarch got stuck there for me a couple of times when I was making this video
@@Sexy_Nutella okay I'm happy I wasn't the only one to experience that 🤣🤣
Ok I’m seriously starting to wonder what the hell was going on with Dr. horn now
Yeah, I'm not too familiar with the ARG myself. To my understanding he managed to clone himself.
@@Sexy_Nutellaand realized he was in a video game too i think
finally we got a new beautiful gameplay
Glad you enjoyed this one!
@@Sexy_Nutella thank you
The only minor problem with this episode for me is music somewhere between 16:00 and 26:00 - it just seems too peaceful. At that time Gonarch is chasing you, doing her best to kill the intruder. I guess, adding some tension and disquietness in the background music would have worked better.
Well, it still looks awesome. Thank you for your dedication, Sexy Nutella!
There is a track that plays in that time range you mentioned, though it's not as high-energy as the other ones - it's called "Lair" I believe. Personally I thought it fit that section pretty well, given that you are really in the heart of her domain at that point in time. Thanks for the comment! :)
@@Sexy_Nutella OK, the track on it's own works fine. I guess the problem is how music sometimes is drowned by SFX like steps (Freeman's and Gonarch's), gunshots, local wildlife minding it's own business, etc. And as for the moment when Gonarch attacks Gordon from above - 20:50 - 21:30 - it really doesn't fit.
@@vadimsharanda1052 I can respect that! For my personally I do like how it's more subdued, and low-key full of dread. But I can see your perspective too!
THE LAST ENCOUNTER WAS TOO GOOD!!!!!! It was worth the effort, man! Congratulations and damn... thanks for all these, really!
Excited AND worried about Interloper, both because of how you'll pull off the elevator fight AND how you'll pull off the elevator fight. (And yes, it is my personal fave--Gluon spam x the elevator soundtrack just makes me go nice.mp4.)
Take your time, though! Gonna rewatch your other plays for the meantime because yes.
(NGL though, I wish I had a better PC to be able to handle these games, and a VR set for Alyx, of course. Woe is me who's only played HL1 and HL2 + EPs via their respective PS consoles literally more than a decade ago. I am super sure it's all gonna be a million times better if I experience all this firsthand.)
Thank you for the kind words! I have some ideas for the elevator battle in Interloper which will likely make it a real pain to go through...even longer than this chapter I'd wager haha....but all in due time :)
Half-Life: Alyx is definitely worth playing through firsthand, preferably blind if you have managed to avoid spoilers up to this point. The ending to that game is absolutely insane. One of the best gaming experiences I've ever had in my life.
@@Sexy_Nutella No problemo! Ready yourself for more words of thanks because yes. ;)
I'M NOW EXCITED FOR ELEVATOR FIGHT X 247!!!!!!!! ASDFGHJKL GLUON GUN GO BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR but don't brrrrrr yourself though! D:
And I've spoiled myself on HLA. Just couldn't help it, man. T^T I can't wait for the first-hand experience though. It will be my first VR game, if ever. Deffo gonna save up for it someday (which will likely last me a decade because medschool is killer :( ).
@@pizzazzindoofus Oh man, medschool eh? Good luck on your studies, I have a couple of friends in that stream and it sounds like a TON of work.
Alternate title:Theoretical physisist fights giant crab with a jetpack and a rocket launcher
pretty much!
Freeman teleports closer to the nihilanth's tower, unfortunately inside the gonarch's lair, the landscape would seem rougher, and freeman would have to fight a giant headcrab in a game of cat and mouse to escape the lair.
Brother i never made it through the last bit , not once , so thanks for the effort .
That fight is NUTS on Hard, even though I've played through it multiple times. I'm glad you got to see the end of the battle :)
Silly question: How do you do all of this without any problems coming like:
-Lag
-Bloomers
-Have to brb
etc?!
I really love your videos on how you play as Gordon in this, it inspired me to make a Half-LIfe comic on how Gordon reacts to stuff and doing it based on your video gameplays. Keep up the fantastic work!
Hopefully I don't ruin the illusion for you, but this is not one single uninterrupted run - it's actually a series of clips cut together to create one seamless experience. Believe me, I want nothing more than to try to show all this in one go, but it's just not possible with everything I want to show. This video already took me a month's time of work to get to this level of quality with multiple cuts, sometimes even within one map.
Thanks for the comment - if you don't mind sharing, would I be able to take a look at your comic. Sounds super cool!
@@Sexy_Nutella I'm still developing on it and not sure when I'll share it soon but hopefully I will. Thanks though!
@@standardzombie3454 Looking forward to it! Good luck!
@@Sexy_Nutella I wish you good luck on making Interloper due to how.
-Long the chapter is.
-How difficult it'll be with the enemies like Alien Controllers and Grunts attacking you at the same time with controlled Vortigaunts.
-And especially the lag on how big the maps are. Alien Controllers sometimes may have a chance of crashing the game from their attacks or controlling the Vortigaunts.
This is from my experience so far.
@@standardzombie3454 Oh yeah, the Interloper maps aren't optimized too well, so recording gameplay is gonna be a real pain. I hope the end results will be worth it though!
The soundtracks of this game are just WOW!!
Yeah, it's amazing! Internal Conflict is great.
half life: Gordon Freeman Chase Gonarch
black mesa: Gonarch Chase Gordon Freeman
Sums it up pretty nicely xD
That achiement achieved by delivering the killing blow to the gonarch with the crowbar is probably harder then the rarest specimen
Yeah, still haven't gotten that one. Would feel amazing once completed though
@@Sexy_Nutella I don't think it's because it's hard, but rather because you can't see her hp, it probably requires a quick save every hit
@@Sexy_Nutella actually no its really easy I just got it
@@Sexy_Nutella It’s actually pretty easy. Just simply use the crowbar once it’s shooting out acid. You don’t actually need to hit it at the final blow.
@@yourfellowducky2712 Really? That certainly helps - thanks for the heads up!
One thing i loved about this chapter was how much development the Gonarch has, it is arguably one of the strongest and most resistant beings in Xen, launching dozens of explosives at it will not even scratch her at first, but as gordon progresses and manages to deal more and more damage to her, you can see that she just starts to go more desperate and annoyed (you can see that she's already very hurt and damaged at the end of the final battle), just using literally everything she has to eliminate this intruder that somehow managed to survive her attacks. Honestly, just seeing her going berserk and launching multiple mortar attacks while barely even being able to stand anymore, and Gordon just launching more and more explosives into her, made me feel a bit bad for her. She was just a mother trying to protect her numerous children and get rid of the intruder that was just trying to get out of her way and continue his path through this borderworld. Just shows how much of an awesome reimagine of this scene the developers did compared to the "souless" original one, fantastic!
Definitely felt bad killing her this time around. Her limping at the end sequence of the fight got to me.
Good to aee you back nuttella, Also I JUST FINISHED BLACK MESA AFTER 1 YEAR!
Nice! How did you feel about that ending? :)
Really good with all the addons, Also Can you make a video on how to download the upgraded NPC's.
Once you finnish the game?
@@marthaacosta7739 Not sure if I will, I can hep you in this comment chain if that works. The Steam Workshop page does a pretty decent job of explaining
One thing that confused me on my first time through was why the BMST starts teleporting crates of rockets and ammo into the arena before the gonarch shows up. But it makes more sense when you realize that they're tracking you and know exactly what lurks in that area, and are using it to *warn you.*
Fighting Gonarch is _hard_ and this walkthrough is turning out to be invaluable to me.
I've got as far as the narrow space at 22:00 and thought that it was the final battle (where I kept dying), but watching this showed me a way out of that area.
Possibly my computer won't let me finish though (it's pretty low-end), as soon as I saw Gonarch here it slowed right down even though it's been absolutely fine on these setting up to now. I've gone down to 'potato' graphics at 1024x768 and framerates are decent again but there may be more slowdowns up ahead..
Glad you found this helpful. Hopefully you managed to finish the chapter without your computer bricking!
@@Sexy_Nutella Yes, I've finished the game now (thanks to you). It's seems that particular lighting effects during combat are causing the slowdowns rather than the general load of the game, so maybe my DirectX isn't up to date. I had a similar experience during the final battle in interloper, but then Nihilanth ran ok.
The only bottleneck I might have is that the graphics card (GTX650) has only 1Gb of RAM, however 99.9% of the game runs perfectly, so think a tweak or two should solve this..
@@jakell99 Glad that at least the game ended with good performance :) Hope you enjoyed the game despite these hiccups!
That was SO much better than the fight in the original game
I hate this chapter out of them all and one of the weakest for sure.
I don't know if you still read these comments but did you intentionally sync the C4 detonations to the music at 26:46? It's on the offbeat even I think. Makes my brain very happy :)
I try to read every comment! And yes, definitely intentional :) I also timed shots such as at 26:30 and 26:38 to the beat. When everything's in sync with the music, I think it makes for a more engrossing viewing, hence why I do them
@@Sexy_Nutella That's lovely, thank you for the great gameplay!
@@unleashy6164 No probs, thanks for the comment!
I'm scared to death even by watching this recording!
They sure made Gonarch terrifying!
Man doesn't kill big momma, Gonarch is defending her territory :C
Wow you came back :D
I was never gone! Work has just been crazy busy, and this chapter was a pain to record. Thanks for the support :)
Hail to the king, baby.
Glad you enjoyed the vid! :)
0:50 desde el comienzo había mucho *Houndeye* muertos y también *Bullsquid* me imagino q lo hizo *Gornach!*
10:25 fue increíble ver la cueva secreta y también escuchar el mensaje de *B.Calhoun* y q también dejó pizza!
Bueno, se q acá todo hablan en ingles y yo en español pero bueno la batalla con *Gornach* fue lo mejor.
Buena jugada *Sexy Nutella* seré paciente de esperar el siguiente cap👍🏻.
No se preocupe, siempre puedo usar Internet para traducir sus palabras :) Gracias por el comentario. ¡Tienes razón, el Gonarch definitivamente se comió esos pobres Houndeyes y Bullsquids!
@@Sexy_Nutella no hay problema, definitivamente si por eso vi a los pobres Houndeye y Bullsquids muertos por Gornach.
Whow finally a new video
Hopefully it is worth the wait!
I just realized everything from 19:11 to 25:57 is the second map from the original version of this chapter.
Nice observation!
@@Sexy_Nutella Remember what I said about how a lot of the expansion in this version of Xen involves Valve's unused ideas? That becomes apparent when you compare a lot of the new environments to the concept sketches in HL2: Raising the Bar.
Exellent Movement, i was struggeling often uff :o)
4:05 note: Seem's nihilanth block the portal throught from tower
I personally interpreted it as linking the teleporter to the top of the Tower. So Gordan might've been teleported up there if the Gonarch didn't sabotage it.
@@Sexy_Nutella Yep, seems Nihilanth lure Gonarch, which actually Gonarch didn't trying to attack gordon she just some wildlife mamalia and gordon just scramble nest that's why she's piss off.. really like how gordon didn't really care about Gonarch he just care only his journey to kill Nihilanth...
Done... What have you done...
Chilling to hear in Interloper
Ayy new video
Hope you enjoyed it!
When I play: thing is ALWAYS right in my face and can't be dodged.
Just keep long jumping when you get the chance. Shooting it enough will also cause it to eventually stop in its tracks if I remember correctly
@@Sexy_Nutella Managed to do it eventually, but thanks anyway. The second stage of the second encounter was so much easier than the first stage.
Also, the 2nd Gonarch fight is so much more difficult than even the Nihilanth.
While its kinda cheap i like to dump all my satchels at the first teleporter site. When gonarch comes and breaks everything shes right on top of them and takes the damage of like 6 rockets at once
Things started to go real here
After not focusing on the video and just reading the comments like I always do, I am gonna ask you this, are you replying (and hearting) every comment? If you are, cool. By the way, thanks for making this gameplay, I got so confused and I looked on your other Black Mesa playlist, only to realize I was on Definitive Edition..
I know, I’m.. I’m dumb.
The one on Earth chapter I got stuck on the most was office complex, well, at least the end of it. I was on the other playlist and the doors in the freezer area was open so I thought to myself “how da heck is dis guy openin da doors? i cannot!” then a few days later I realized I was on Definitive Edition.
Good luck on Interloper, and Nihalinth. Hopefully I get the other Half Life games, along with Alyx. I only have Black Mesa..
Thanks for reading this comment with idk how many words!
Thank you for the comment! Glad my videos managed to help out :) I am excited for you to experience the other Half-Life games, they are all great. HL2 is my personal favourite but Alyx comes close.
@@Sexy_Nutella Another question, will you be doing a Black Mesa Hazard Course playthrough after you’re finished with Definitive Edition?
@@ectozenARCHIVED4772 I do plan to! :)
@@Sexy_Nutella Okay.. Uh, I just got HL2 today.
Soon gonna play it.
@@Sexy_Nutella Are you ever gonna do a full hard HL2 playthrough? (maybe with mmod as well)
Is the portal at 8:32 only in the definitive version? I've tried multiple times to get into that secret room but I must not have the right version for it then...
Nevermind, it triggered after I summoned Gonarch. Thanks for this, I would have never found it :D
I love this
I'm glad! :)
cool that they remaked this fight based on the guardian chapter in hl2 ep2
Question: What do you have your graphics settings set as? For some reason in the swamp section for me there's no fog and the lighting is...too sharp, which makes the whole area look terrible. Are you using any mods or console commands for that?
I don't use any graphical mods or commands aside from the particle enhancement project, which shouldn't affect the maps themselves. Everything else is set to HIGH, with Godrays at LOW.
I did run into issues with maps being overly green and missing shadows - is this what you're running into? It happened to me in the third map of "Xen" after leaving the big tree. A quick reload solved that for me.
@@Sexy_Nutella Thanks, I've figured out the problem. Yeah a part of the problem was missing shadows. The fog and other effects also weren't showing up which was making the whole map look a lot less realistic. But it's back to normal now :)
@@lordofthegeckos533 Glad to hear it :)
11:47 😂😂😂 That's hilarious!
I love the devs for putting in amazing easter eggs like that one :)
I always disliked the fact that Gonarch has her own boss music but Nihilanth doesnt (original game). But we all love giant testicle spider.
Nihilanth actually does have his own theme ("Nihilist" in the soundtrack), but it's pretty quiet compared to all the sound effects going on in that fight. I do wish it was a bit louder but I think the composer intentionally designed it to feel more like ambience.
i find it funny how the gonarch took me so many attempts to complete, same for the lobby battle in chapter 11(?), yet i managed to kill the nihilanth on my first try
you. are. THE. best.
No you are! ;) Glad you enjoyed the video
Out of curiosity what are you trying to let us see at 38:32? I can’t make out what it is.
Yeah it's kinda hard to see eh? I was zooming in on a dead HEV Suit scientist that is impaled on the thorns there - really hard to make out in the video but you can see the trademark orange HEV suit hanging over some thorns. at 38:34. It's the last of the survey team that was tasked with killing the Gonarch. Finding that body nets you an achievement.
Haven't seen anyone point out the stargate Easter egg alongside the Barney secret yet.
What's the name of the song that starts up around 29:10 once you enter the area where the Go arch is
It's called "The Hunting" by Joel Nielsen.
Is gordon Freeman Jump too far away than Gonarch while she is running like a sonic.
Hello, I am making a video on this particular fight in Black mesa. I am focusing on the atmosphere and the fight itself because it is one of those gaming moments that stuck with me. Something that left an impression on me, with the music and the chase and the final climax. Can I use your footage for my video, because unfortunately my PC specs are not high and cannot record my own footage on maximum settings. I will credit you of course!
What’s the difference between normal and definitive edition in this chapter?
Definitive is the most up-to-date version of the game. Too many changes to list but there's been tweaks all throughout the game, as well as bugfixes
yes yes yes
YEESS!!
Glad you're excited - hope you enjoyed :)
I'm stuck at the part when the spider is stabbing me from top and sending the small spiders to attack me untill the tnt detonator drop, the first time I died then restart, after that the spider didn't attack me at all!
My game hard crashes at 21:30 please help
Who is the 'who' that was in the vents Barney and the other guy mentioned in that audio recording?
Seven months late, but there's a little context for you. In Half-Life 2 Episode One, 20 years after the events of Half-Life 1, Alyx talks about Gordon's past, when he used to race Barney through the vents to reach and open Kleiner's office every time he forgot his keys and got locked out.
Do you play Borderlands at all? Particularly Borderlands 2?
I have indeed played both through a long time ago! Great series of games.
@@Sexy_Nutella Do you remember the Bloodshot Ramparts in BL2 where you rescue Roland? The music that plays there is pretty awesome and you do end up shooting through a lot of enemies.
I dunno. Idea for a video?
@@DBAWESOMESAUCE Thanks for the suggestion! To be honest I don't remember much about the Borderlands 2 story - I played it a long time ago with my cousin in coop haha. I do remember Roland eventually dying though, that caught me off guard. As for making a video on it, to be brutally honest I'm not really interested in making videos for Borderlands 2. Sorry to disappoint :(
@@Sexy_Nutella Something told me you wouldn't be. It's kind of an old game that not a lot of people play anymore.
@@DBAWESOMESAUCE Sorry to disappoint! I did enjoy that game but it'd be tough for me to get back into it after such a long time haha. I typically do mostly play old games anyway but there's still a bunch of Half-Life content that I'd like to make.
Wait, there was an unused part of "The Hunting"? What part was unused?
29:08 "Oh, shit."
Gordon's likely reaction for sure :)
@@Sexy_Nutella everytime I listen to this section of the music, I keep imagining the scene and Gordon saying this sentence.
@@odavidsilvalima That's awesome haha
@@Sexy_Nutella I like your videos, man. This Black Mesa Definitive walkthrough is impressive. It's some kind of cinematic gameplay with a realistic point of view, perfectly synchronizing the action sequences with the music. Keep doing a wonderful work. Triple success for ya. I'll be waiting for "Interloper, Nihilanth and Endgame".
@@odavidsilvalima Interloper's gonna be a real pain but I'm excited to showcase it :) Thank you for your support!
i hate that goddamn poison river
YEEEEEEES
Hope you enjoyed the video!