Half-Life:Alyx

yeah i found that also, there is also a billiard table...

 

I still have plenty of issues with Valve as a company, but I have to acknowledge they've outdone themselves with Alyx.

 

The stockpiling items bug is annoying, it would have been pretty obvious during playtesting people were going to carry around grens and health in a bucket/container

A few crashes later (requiring complete reboots in my case) and I gave up on this idea, turns out hoarding grens like toilet paper is not necessary anyway

 

hahah holy shit

 

Hi guys/gals. I'm keen to get the game, where is the cheapest place to buy it? Or am I just stuck with grabbing it from steam?

 

hate all games where monsters are invulnerable for half a second while they recover from your previous shot.

shoot, wait 1 second for their invulnerability to wear off. shoot again. wait 1 second for their invulnerability to wear off.. shoot again. its annoying. all games seem to do this. is it a thing?

 

Depends on the game, sometimes things will be immune to damage while they are in the middle of certain animations - I don't recall this being a problem in previous games except maybe for when headcrab zombies were first getting up from the ground

 

This game is actually quite hard! Especially when you have to conserve ammo.

Anyone else playing on the Pimax? It looks insanely good at full FoV once you crank up the resolution.

 

I've played a couple of hours of this now and it's truly spectacular.
Playing on an Oculus Rift CV1 and 1080Ti (wc'd and oc'd)

A few observations and things I wish I knew earlier (no spoilers)...

Graphics:
HL Alyx auto scales resolution (super sampling) to give the best graphics for performance, but in my observation it's doing it way too frequently.
Setting Supersampling in Oculus Tray Tool (OTT) works, as does using SteamVR settings (and they stack so be careful), but that only sets a starting ss multiplier, it doesn't fix the ss.
To force static resolution, use the following launch options:
-console -vconsole +vr_fidelity_level_auto 0 +vr_fidelity_level 3
This turns off the dynamic scaling in the game and allows you to set resolution/supersampling with either Steam VR or OTT for a more consistent experience. If you have Vive/WMR/Index then obviously use Steam VR to set the resolution.
Another thing I missed is when you set fidelity in the HL Alyx settings menu there is a cog icon in the bottom left corner that has all the advanced (individual) graphic settings.

I have been able to run at 2.0 supersampling , no ASW (Asynchronous Time Warp), and everything set on Ultra in game and have a locked 90fps which is awesome. The optimisation in this game is excellent.

This is the first game where I know I would appreciate a higher resolution headset, but to be honest the CV1 is holding up just fine and the OLED screen has it's advantages in a game with many dark sections like HL Alyx.

Controls/Gameplay:
This game really shines when you are standing, and preferably if you can crouch and take at least a step in either direction.
Although the grabbity gloves mean you generally don't have to physically get up close to things to interact, the detail in the game means sometimes you are going to want to lean closer and just admire the detail.
Oculus touch controllers work fantastically well, Valve have done a great job of supporting all devices. The only time I wish for knuckles is when throwing things, it does feel like I might throw the controller if I don't concentrate!

Comfort:
I used smooth locomotion with snap turning (45 degrees) from the start and have found it to be quite comfortable.
People complain about the locomotion speed, but actually it feels about right for exploring the world, doesn't make you sick, and still allows you to strafe out of the way of flying headcrabs!
I do NOT have my VR legs at the moment, but this game doesn't make me nauseous in locomotion where other games certain do!
I played over an hour straight last night and felt good, but breaks still feel necessary so I'll probably plan an hour at a time.

 

My rift s arrived today so I got to play about 30 mins of alyx before family life started calling.

Pretty awesome experience, rift s seems way better than the vive i was borrowing before. No real screen door to speak of and I hated the lighthouses so being rid of those has been great

Game plays nicely so far, graphics look good and it's running smoothly. Might try the other locomotion settings next time I fire it up but the teleporting felt pretty okay

 

VR demand is massively outstripping supply. Alyx is certainly a factor in this. And to think, two years ago VR demand was plummeting.

 

which Vive are you comparing to?

 

Completely unsurprising that hardware is useless without good software to drive it.

I know this is a hardware enthusiast forum. But sometimes that revelation is lost on people who love benchmarking things for thrills.

 

I think its more a made for VR game that is full length and also something that regular gamers can't play the sequel forcing them to buy VR.

I still find it very rare that people, especially outside the Internet have even used VR outside some phone VR gimmick, I've never been able to explain VR to a person, you can only show them. A lot of people claim to know what VR is like and realise they are mistaken once you play roomscale VR.



There is quite a list of amazing VR games that I'm willing to bet that gamers would buy VR + the game if they knew how great it was, there just isn't a way to show them how great it was without a friend showing you.

 

Again, totally unsurprising. VR takes considerable investment - not just financial, but dedicated space.

When you show people your super kick arse nerdcave VR setup, I bet they're impressed. And then I bet they'll never do it themselves because it's way too much effort compared to a TV in the corner.

No different to when people come to my house and play my arcade machine collection. "Wow, that's so cool, I'd love that at home" they say, and then go home and never think about it again because it's a pain in the arse to install 7 arcade machines. Am I surprised? Not in the slightest.

I love this VR stuff. Really. But there's no way "regular people" will bother. Even the current "exploding demand" is a fraction of existing hardcore PC gamers, which is a fraction of the gaming market, which is a fraction of the population.

 

Funny you mention that though, every single gamer I've shown has purchased their own VR setup.

I could probably get non gamers to buy it if I had an Oculus Quest to demo to them. They would almost buy one just for Beat Saber based on my demo experience with my Pimax.

The great thing about VR is there are both casual gamer and regular gamer, games.

I agree but more because there is no proper way for mainstream people to demo casual friendly devices like the Oculus Quest, and then play the stuff that interests them, like Beat Saber.

There is an entire other market out there for VR porn as well, but again, nobody understands that its nothing like watching porn on a screen strapped to your head.

 

The only VR that's interested me is the Vive Cosmos (with battery pack) since no lighthouses. No way can i setup the full hog between what PC space i have, kids, and the other animals.

 

Yes, this is what several of us have been saying; Alyx really is a game changer, because VR's biggest problem has always been not the technology but the lack of sufficiently engaging software. Most people have looked at it and thought "What's the point?", because they haven't seen anything they'd want to do in VR or any game they'd way to play in VR that would offer them a significantly better experience than playing it with a monitor. As Ars Technica said, "VR is still a sliver, but that sliver sure is picking up pace".

 

Look at you going, increasing the market share by 6. Nice work.

Indeed. Now the industry just needs more than one worthwhile title. I mean, one a year would be nice. But more than one at all would be a good start.

 

look i'm going to set this straight *again*, VR is and will continue to be a niche. it is a niche that is worth money. that's it. it's not "picking up pace" other than being LESS of a niche than it has been in the past.

i can tell you right now any game that has a VR version is significantly more immersive in smaller doses, this is not up for debate or question, however what VR has lacked is exclusive content that forces you to use it because it is the only way to experience it. It's very similar in that regard to most "gimmicks" like for example Kinect, Vita and Wii U gimmicky bits etc. VR needs stronger third party support for that niche and inventive ways of using the technology. End of the day Half Life Alyx is probably one of the biggest tech demo's I've ever seen made around a technology, and what a surpise.... it's first party! Like all the good tech demos.