Are Hunters the Best Half-Life Enemy? | Cascade
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- At long last, it's here! What will you see? What will you learn? Will there be a beta moment?! Tune in to find out!
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00:00 Intro
01:19 Hunters
07:06 Pre-Release Moment
Ep. 2 Beta Maps: • Half-Life 2: Episode T...
Testing npc_ministrider: • Testing npc_ministrider - Ігри
One thing that i really love about Half Life's is their alien enemies actually look like aliens, most sci fi franchises have bipedal human looking creatures, but the Hunters really look out of this world
Makes me wish he got a peak at more heavily augmented Combine humans, something past Elites that start to do away with the human body layout entirely
@@faceless2302 The stalkers sort of touch upon this. However, the combine isnt about completely erasing the human template, but rather modifying it to suit their needs.
that is really true
Tbf, it's the same game with humanoid aliens like Vortigaunts and Alien Grunts but at least they're much better than "human but blue".
@@pyrus2814 Stalkers are just meat robots, it doesn't make sense to augment them much more beyond ensuring they can push buttons really good and do whatever other mindless tasks they can be programmed for. But considering that the Combine are in a constant struggle against resistance groups (and other humanoid Combine are demonstrably pretty ineffective from Freeman's perspective), I'd think they'd be looking into other ways of turning the indigenous population into more fitting crowd control and weapons platforms than what we see in the games. Why stop at the limits of what 2 humanoid arms can carry when you could surgically install a 3rd crane-like arm and another leg or tail to provide stabilization for some of their bigger pulse guns? Or do away with the vulnerabilities of having the human head on top of the torso exposed to the whole world and stuff it down into the abdominal cavity, replace vision with some body mounted cameras that allow for 360 degree view. There's probably a ton of ways to make take a humanoid body and better adapt it for combat operations when you reach the tech level of the Combine. I want to see some people flying around with Strider cannons for heads and jet thrusters for legs
The reason why there's an enemy Hunter in Entropy: Zero is because it's being controlled by Vortigaunts. It even has Vortigaunt sounds mixed into its vocalisations.
Wait I entirely forgot about an enemy hunter in that game, when does it appear?
@@Awfulfeature It appears during the final chapter, (called Bad Cop) in City 10's Citadel-like structure.
Because you've been killing their kind, some Vortigaunts bring a Hunter out of some kind of stasis presumably and turn it against you, where it stalks you for a good chunk of the chapter. You get to fight it twice, in two different arenas throughout the chapter, killing it the second time.
@@Gulliblepikmin oh yeah, why the hell was I thinking of the sequel, thank you.
Also, brilliantly enough, the game's level design basically forces you to use up all your AR2 alt fire before the fight to prevent you from instakilling the hunter.
@@benbot0733 Which, honestly, I think sucks. It's easy to cheese if you stand in the doorway of the last pellets, the fight breaks if you use them against the hunter, and they could have just made it... not immediately kill the hunter.
Fun fact: The Magnum is hard coded to deal more damage to Hunters because playtesters thought that it would be the most effective weapon against them
Source?
Valve play testers at their finest
@@Man-lt9hc magnum is a super fun weapon tho so i see why
@@GojoGunning no, goldsource
@@rogerphone481 ha
It's super interesting how much weight the sound design of the Hunters adds, they're quick and nimble enemys but those bass thumping footsteps make them out to be massive creatures weighing a few hundred kilos, being able to move that much mass that quickly really adds to the feeling of being fucking terrified of them. I always felt that they were a bit too tanky fighting them but I also for some reason never thought of using the Gravity Gun against them.
Try running them over with your car, it's one hit killer. Also using the crossbow straight on their eyes does wonders
@@Fenrize AR2 alt fire go brrr, pretty sure one of the characters even mentions how it's the "Hunter killer"
@@helohel5915 Yeah, the guy in White Forest. But considering you can hold only three Combine's balls at a time it's good to have alternatives
@@Fenrize Well, due to resupply places, it was my best secondary way to kill hunters for the achievement
@@helohel5915 Actually he talks about the “AR3” and when questioned he says he is actually a radio operator rather than a fighter or something along those lines
I NEVER THOUGHT OF COVERING A PROP IN FLECHETTES AND LAUNCHING IT AT THEM THAT’S FUCKING GENIUS
You get an achievement for doing it
Ted Backman said for HL:A (he was consulted, didn't work on it), that Striders' base creature is "scanned" by the Combine and then is "built," so they are 100% artificial, just based on a living creature. My guess is that this is the case for ALL Combine synths
ah thats interresting
@7EMP3ST Also the dropships appear to be like some aquatic space animals as in they kind of look like they swim in air
@7EMP3ST I like the idea that they scanned them and then repurposed their organic matter to build a better fleshy template to slap machines onto
Yeah I think some organic components work better than machine replacements. Bodies are complex.
So synths are essentially 3D printed killing machines.
I remember how the Hunter's introduction scared the hell out of me back in the day
I always thought that the hunters were supposed to be modified houndeyes because of their sounds being almost playful at times, their three legs, and their overall body shape being very similar to one.
This is what I was thinking too. They keep making sounds like hound eyes. They also move in packs together
I'm so glad the hunters are finally getting the recognition they deserve. They are my favorite enemies and it's just unbelievable how much they're slept on.
I sleep on them because they terrified me more than the headcrab zombies in ravenholm or whatever did
The only exception being the skeleton looking one but that's still a damn tie
they are fucking satan
The thing about the flechette launchers not being eyes is wrong. Those things on the side are boils, and you can tell by the fact that one has popped on one side. Also, the Hunters eye dilate when a flashlight is shown at them. I believe the rig for the hunters even refer to them as eyes. I'm not sure where this idea that the boils are actually eyes started but this is the second video I've seen saying this now. Cool video over all though.
@7EMP3ST I believe its both
The information about the "boils" being eyes can be found on the Half-Life 2 wiki and the Combine Overwiki, though it's stated there that they "appear" to be compound eyes. I suppose it was hard to image something shooting flechettes out of its eyes, and considering this is a genetically modified organisms it doesn't necessarily have to follow any regular rules of biology, like symmetry.
Striders do something similar, actually, their lower Cannon darts around like an eyeball when it surveys it's surroundings.
@@optimal8307 Man I thought that was the di-
Generally speaking, no matter the species, if you see 2 massive eye-looking shapes following you around whilst you move, it's probably an eye.
I always enjoyed fighting the hunters every time I replay ep2, I love how they chase you nonstop even if you're inside a house.
6:21
That wolf joke caught me off guard so much 😆
That's how America works
I loved having one of these guys as a companion in Entropy Zero 2
"Where have you been, boy? Nice to see you're still taking out the trash!"
Fr
best part of the game. Winston was okay but he kept making me think about my actions, because he's an asshole. Hunterbro reinforced my actions by helping me atomize rebel plebs.
Combine soldiers could be much better, they are actully very smart but their miniscule health pool compared to you and their terrible accuracy doesnt allow them to show off their cool AI. its even better if you use an ai_goal_standoff to have them do some cooler things too.
Exactly. It is too easy to kill them and thus they don't have enough time to shine. I once edited config to make them bullet sponges. This gave them an opportunity to demonstrate how smart and cooperative they are, and made the game a lot more enjoyable. Usually I find bullet sponge enemies annoying, but definitely not in the case of Half Life 2.
@@yansakovich I am making a hl mod and ive done some fidgeting with their stats. they shoot better and half more health and npcs do more damage with their weapons
combine soldier stand much more of a chance now.
@Hoovy Simulator 2 your saying that this mod makes combine soldier ((and vj base combine)) new AI?
that sounds awesome can you send me the link?
@Hoovy Simulator 2 sounds cool i'l have to check it out
didn't Halo already establish that players judge enemy AI based of how much threat they pose to the player, rather than what the AI is actually doing?
I never even thought to use the gravity gun to constantly fight them. I always thought they were really fun to fight with just the guns alone.
I love Synths. All synths. I wonder what they would be like if freed from Combine rule, left to wander. Gentle wandering Striders, excitable Hunters begging for nutrient fluid from their handlers, majestic Gunships wandering the skies. Stalkers being cared for by their families. That kind of thing.
I am so happy you are still making Cascade. Honestly one of my favorite UA-cam series!
The fact that you can't just one shot these Hunters with the Supercharged Gravity Gun makes them a more terrifying enemy to deal with without the use of the AR2 secondary attack
you don't get the scgg in ep 2 I don't believe
@@FurgusFungus Maybe they mean with cheats idk
Somewhere I saw you
@@Leon0451 look on any valve video you'll find him
@@FurgusFungus I just saw the engineer in the Noclick(a) video
In Entropy Zero, the Hunter seemed to attack you because the vortigaunts reprogrammed or possessed it.
I still can not get over how good the sound design for the hunters are
They sound fast, but powerful in their movement noises
Slightly animalistic and slightly robotic in their "voices"
All while being _entirely_ alien-sounding
Like, it gives you the feeling that humans aren't meant to comprehend those noises, cosmic horror having it's influence and all
It's difficult to understand how those things work through their sounds alone, which is what pulls off that "alien" effect for me
Hell, we don't even know how it makes those noises, if it has anything resembling a "voice" or if those are all just the resulting noises of mechanical objects in action
You hit the nail as always. I've always thought HL2 lacked good Medium to High HP Enemy to kill and the Hunters in Episode 2 really fill that gap. Also their graphic and sound design is super cool as you have remarked
I will never forget entropy zero 2 for letting me fight with these guys. I just let him goof up some rebels while I guard Wilson's door unlocking tricks.
Hunters were always my favorite half life enemy, so seeing them get some love is more than welcome.
I remember that goddamn rocket mission and it was so annoying. Both the hunters and striders combined were a deadly combination for sure. Took me forever to complete that mission. They're cool enemies but holy shit they were not push overs
I gotta admit, the Hunter's are definitely one of my favorite enemies in any FPS game-they'd feel right at home in any of the later Doom games. It feels like interacting with them is interesting with nearly any weapon. They can survive a lot of punishment, can rapidly run around, but their attacks can be avoided and they can flinch from some of your attacks... And, yeah, the way they're designed to interact around the Source engine is just perfect. It feels like every encounter you have with them can be really unique and expressive on your part, but they still provide a healthy challenge.
When I first played ep2, that final boss was the most fun I have had in a source game. The constant struggle of the hunters combined with the alarm as the striders get closer to the base makes it all the more immersive and downright fun. Hunters were the one light enemy that you couldn't melt through and it made fighting more than one so fun.
Not to mention their looks were designed so good that it still holds up after 15 years. Example are the Blue Eyes short
Hunters have always been the most dope synth. Attacking in packs, charging the player, and able to be taken down in tons of ways. This is pretty much what makes episode 2 so memorable for me
Great video, I was skeptical of the premise when I saw the title, but you did remind me how gratifying it felt to fight them. It was one of the enemies that made you feel like you were fighting a competent match for your abilities. Great video!
I love the eerie sounds they make. They're a little on the spongey side but if there's objects lying around for the gravity gun it's fun.
I think the spongeyness makes them fun. I love a good meaty sponge enemy
They kinda have to be spongy though, otherwise; everyone would jist be using a gun as that'll be more effective than using the gravity gun
@@user-tzzglsstle585e38 Agreed. When I was a kid I didn't know I could use the logs and tires etc. When I figured it out a few years ago they were much more fun to fight. I think the first encounter in Ep 2 is my favorite.
They were weirdly spongey. Easy/Normal/Hard still modified how much damage you dealt to them, and for all enemies it just makes them easier/harder to kill. That is, for bullets. Physics objects deal physical damage, which is not scaled by difficulty. This was a good incentive to use the grav gun on them whenever you could.
Definitely a fan of the cascade videos. Keep them coming!
Hunters have always been kind of fascinating to me, they sort of represent HL2 taking another crack at a more "alien" type enemy comparable to the majority of the Xen forces of HL1, and a much appreciated presence given how badly HL2 started out with kinda cramming enemy variety down to just Combine human/human shaped soldiers, Antlions, and the Headcrab crew, and lord knows the Headcrab crew really can't hold out as a main combat force for the life of it despite how badly the game wants you to believe otherwise (The additions of Zombines in Episode 1 definitely helps with the threat, even if not with the variety).
It definitely doesn't work out as a straight 1:1 comparison, but I also kinda find them to be HL2's answers to the Alien Grunt (Really wish them and the Controllers had gotten actual names eventually like the Vorts but oh well), being a sort of heavier shock trooper for the game to pull out on you, not quite being outright bosses like the Gargs or Striders, but definitely being noticeably bullet spongier than their other comrades (The Hunter's comedic weakness to the Gravity Gun aside, although I feel even that's a pretty good design choice, as it's one of the few times I actually felt motivated to waste time pulling out the Grav Gun for actual combat instead of just using it to spare ammo on the Headcrab crew)
4:38 I'm definitely not the first person, or even close to it, to bring this up, but in the Combine AI's defense, HL2's maps are notoriously hallway ridden, badly limiting any potentially not "dumb as hell" moves they could make, something the Hunters in Episode 2 are very noticeably never confined to.
5:09 Going back to previous comparisons to the Alien Grunts, this sort of interaction with the environment would do so much to enhance them, given the numerous times they game goes out of its way to display their super strength. Certainly would've improved them from just "walking bullet sponge bee turret"
6:47 Gonna have to agree to disagree, I heavily enjoy Episode 2, but find myself repeatedly stopping runs just short of the final base defense just because of how obnoxious/tedious it feels. Even with the car, the constant traveling back and forth for bombs really starts to aggravate HL2's problems with Gordon feeling like a concrete brick on square wheels compared to HL1.
Love these videos man, keep the cascade content coming if you can!
I've only just clicked the video but yes.
The first hunter you encounter shows how dangerous the Half-Life world is when Gman isn't watching over you. It almost killed Alyx & Gordon in under 2 seconds with one attack & didn't even spend any of the ammo its body freely produces. Which explodes.
YESSS CASCADE IS BACK
love this so much, please be making more
How I've missed your content brother, I'm so glad you are back
I was absolutely terrified of them when I played Episode Two for the first time.
The sudden change of pacing caught me off guard.
I wish there were more alien enemies, and not just more humans who backstab their own kind
Back as a kid, these used to be my favorite Half Life enemies of all time, and before then it as the Headcrabs and Zombies.
I can definitely see the hunters being related to the striders in that they come from the same planet and likely belong to the same Class, Superclass or at least Phylum (ancestral traits for hunters & striders including 3 legs and armor/exoskeleton) like how humans are related to dogs and lizards (ancestral traits including 4 limbs and an endoskeleton).
They're a veritable recipe of excellence in creature design: Begin with the prominent, weaponized false eyes - straight out of the insect kingdom; add the tripedal limbs of a martian war machine; salt with simian mannerisms in their movement, musculature & vocalisations; all unified in a sleek, singular iteration of the earlier Combine's biomechanical aesthetic. That's to say nothing of how mechanically satisfying they are to fight.
The adrenaline rush of a hunter charging at you as you deal a killing blow with your shotgun, causing it to fall just in front of your face is what made me realize how cool these guys are
I just really hate how they die easily to a slow tap from a car.
This video really changed my view on the hunters design. It neven crossed my mind that you could use the flechette's agianst them with a physics objeckt. But it seems obvious now, they even have a timer untill exploding. Most of the time the grav-gun is just used for style in my yearly playthroughs. To my own fault maybe, but using the other rifels seemed like the path of least resistance. Now i see that the weapon that was always in the fore front of the enemies design. Great video, makes me appreciate my favorite series even more.
8:28 That’s honestly just what game development is like. The “finished” product is better than what was invisioned (if they get there) because cool things that aren’t obvious at the start become staples at the end
I'm glad that you touched on them being the best monsters in HL2 purely because they're the only ones that are as fun to fight as the enemies in 1
Entropy zero 1 hunter is possesed by a powerful vort enclave and thats why you are fighting it, hence the green fletchet orbs.
thanks ill never look at a hunter the same way now
4:39 I would argue that the antlions unpredictability makes them extremely fun to fight against imo.
I also love how they create an almost horror like atmosphere, because after they're introduced, sometimes you'll hear them calling to eachother in the distance. And when you're hiding in the house with Alyx, you can hear the calls getting louder until one starts walking around directly above you. It's a great use of a new enemy to make the players feel helpless, especially because up until that point, the player has never had a chance to fight one.
there is nothing more fun than the last battle against 4 striders and a bunch of hunters you driving like a madman just to destroy them
Great video as always!
Glad you enjoyed! Thank you so much!
The Hunter always where cool to me, and they’re sounds are great and how the fight you make it feel like they are even in power with you (but no because rockets and AR2) they fit it with Combine monsters but stick out in way that’s fair and fun. Good video btw
Never thought there was even new cascade video loved those video hope you bring them back
oh my god that armed wolf at 6:23 xD 🤣😂😂
I've replayed half life multiple times growing up. These adaptation videos brought me joy.
The thing that always sticked with me about Hunters was the sound of the projectile blowing up and sfx that it does. Until this day I'm eager to see if anyone can make an enemy so impressive as the hunter
If only the us government prevented valve from giving children gambling addictions so we could have seen the hunters again.
Hunters will always be one of my favorite synth enemy in the entry I always find it how challenging they can be in combat I will always, remembers my first encounter with them back in the Orange box days.
When I first played ep2 I missed the hints that you where being stalked by the hunters and I thought Alyxs injury’s came out no were but on second play through I finally noticed them and it was really cool
I love your edits
"Where have ya been boy !? Nice to see your still taking out the trash!"
If there ever is a HL3 or whatever other way of continuing the series, I'd love to see more interesting enemy designs like this guy, and of course see a return of the Hunters.
You know I never thought to use the gravity gun to fight hunters, I kind of forgot about the gravity gun until the end of 2 and the beginning of episode 1
Bro, I literally agree, sometimes I even think that the cutest creatures in this game😂😂😂😂😂😂🥰😭🥲🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣❤❤❤❤
Comrades, we have been blessed with another cascade episode
entropy zero kind of creates a neat gameplay arc of the hunters if you treat it and its sequel as two parts of a gearbox style expansion set that takes place alongside the hl2ep3 we never got.
Ep1: You're introduced to them in a semi-mysterious way
Ep2: You fight them in increasingly more complex setpieces
EZ1: You fight a vortigaunt hacked miniboss version of them
EZ2: You get to team up with a Hunter as your combat ally and reenact that scene from Episode 1
It feels like a good escalation and turn when you stack them all up like that.
Half-life pre-release moment intro never gets old.
welcome back!
Some random lore about the hunter:the hunter is a baby version of the steider that can't grow up perfectly
So they grew shells and other things when they are small they are more light so they move around fast
Wrong
Yea
hunters is like the stalkers from half life 2 beta
seeing them watching you was pretty scary when i first played epistle 2
Man I can't wait for you to review Half life 3 when it comes out. Will be good entertainment in my retirement home.
Glad the Hunters are getting the attention they deserve. Dapper!
No the best half life enemy is definitely the crabsynth which you see once on a conveyerbelt and then never again
They were the toughest foe in Ep 2, but the funniest one too
10:33
The reason why you fight the hunter in entropy: zero was that the hunter got possessed, by a vortigaunt (that's why its green then a shiny blue)
I feel like they might be called ministriders in episode one because maybe the combine genetically modified striders to be more mobile and be taken to places of resistance much faster
i first played through episode 2 this summer, literally in the same sitting as episode 1 and the hunters were absolutely terrifying. Especially for their sound design. No other sounds can make me feel so uncomfortable the instant i even think about it coming. (also this video just taught me i could have been using the gravity gun to kill them, ngl i was just killing them by switching weapons like it was fucking ultrakill)
My guy used use an example of just 2 shotgunners rushing him down and bringing him to a third of his HP as an example of bad AI
something else i like is that you can use their own attacks against them - which i didn't even think of until i noticed it was an achievement (too used to modern games not really utilizing physics lol).
it's kinda hard and not all that effective, but it's still neat. I love when games do stuff like that.
Great video :) People don’t talk about hunters enough.
Cascade is backkk!!!!!
they can eat buckshot at point blank, are extremely fast and shoot darts that will stick onto you and explode, these things are absolutely terrifying
I remember having to drastically change my playstyle because of the pure amount of hunters in the final battle of episode 2
When i played episode 2, i had no clue about the physics object thing working on hunters lol
Hell yeah. Hunters are my favorite enemies too. I even have an artwork of them as my wallpaper.
Without even watching the video: yes, they are. HL2 desperately needed a tanky, relentless enemy which can't be dealt with just with a shotgun alt-fire to the head.
I think there was a mod called "MAHM" or something that had you working with a friendly hunter. It's short but very cool in my opinion.
Wow I never even though about using the gravity gun against the hunters like that. I think you should do a video about the Tentacles, they have a whole chapter dedicated to them and they appear in Opposing Force and Alyx (according to the wiki, I can't find any video and I don't have the game) yet they are barely talked about.
5:42 let me stop you right there the soldier/alien grunt combat was okay…. It wasn’t anything to write home about
1:06 Don't play with yer food.
4:26 The HECU from HL1 were more challenging because they changed up their tactics-go-nuts.
5:58 Let's see if they can Dodge the Charger (heh). They totally can, but only if they time it right.
6:35 The hot rod is the best way to deal with them during the final battle-go-nuts.
10:10 Xen grunts from HL1 were only vulnerable to small arms fire on non-armored parts of their body. That could work the same for Hunters. When using ordinary guns, shot placement would be the deciding factor-go-nuts.
Finally a new video.
I wanna see these guys in vr they would be so intimidating and fun to go against
Yo, more Cascade!
Welcome back my old friend. It is has been too long
every time i see the scene at 1:05 i laugh because i remember the desinc video with the gnome right in front of alyx where he says "so it turns out the gnomes an evil little bastard"
Aw hell yeah, new Cascade ep.
Hey if it gets hard for content it's OK if you need to spin off into CS/L4D/other Source or Valve games. It's a tangential area to bits of knowledge I know you are well-versed in and enjoy this style of content and your method of delivery.
Cheers m8.
Thanks! I'm probably going to start trying to do 1 cascade a month and other videos alongside them. Many wont be valve related but quite a few will be. The best is yet to come
Its been years since i played HL2 but i remember hating hunters for how bullet spongie they where
HELL YEAH NEW CASCADE WOOOO
I find Episode 2 so much more replayable than the original or Ep1, the Hunters contribute to that a lot