Poll Question 147 – Have you ever finished a mod without dying?

22nd November 2009

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

I’m talking about long mods, not just short, twenty-minute things.

My first thought would be If you can then it couldn’t have been that hard, but I’ve been playing long enough to know that there are some great players out there.

I’m trying to think if I have got really far in a mod and died. It’s possible, but unlikely for me. I wonder if I had would I have tried to replay it without getting killed. Would or have you done that: replayed a mod to see if you can beat it without dying?

Is dying important in a game?

Back in April 2006 I wrote a article called Do We Expect To Die? and some of the points are still relevant.

I might replay some of the easier mods from recent months and see if I can beat them without dying. In fact, the next mod I play I will do my best not to die at all.

The Poll

15 Comments

  1. wayfare

    I honestly cannot say if I have or not.. I am sure that I have in smaller mods, but I am not sure about the lengthier ones. I do not feel that dying really matters in a game such as Half-Life as much as it does in arcade type games. I wish I could say yes

  2. I would have voted no but “I suck at games, I’m almost as bad as Phillip’. No one is as bad as that, are they?
    And he plays in Easy.
    Have a look at some of his screen shots!!
    Had to vote Kinda.

    1. Yes, some people are as bad as me and in some cases worst I fear.

  3. Anonymous

    I got real close in blue shift on hard until the run and jump screwed it all up

  4. death

    I’ve only beaten Get a Life without dying. which was a bit tough, considering it’s 11 hours long.

  5. This is another case of ambiguity. I could easily finish any mod without dying, simply by reloading when I take more that what I feel is an acceptable amount of damage and being extra careful on jumps and obvious death traps. However I find that type of play style to be tedious as hell (and I say that as a guy who has taken out the Gonarch in HL1 by finding a safe spot where it can’t reach me and holding down fire button on the hivehand)
    Because of quicksaving and being able to play a game over and over again, I have gotten a little jaded over the idea that not dying is really that much of a show of skill. Eventually, with enough practice, anyone is going to be able to do that, it just takes someone who is willing to invest the time into the constant repetition.
    In some cases, I deliberately do things that will likely result in my death simply to see if it is possible to do things in a manner that a game or mod doesn’t seem to have been expecting. I like to break out of the defined path, even if it serves no purpose and requires me to brave certain doom with barely any life left. IF I do end up dying, or getting stuck, I can always reload and only end up losing a few minutes.

  6. WizardExt

    There are many games and mods that I have played and finished without dying. One of them being the mod Joutomaa. It’s short and didn’t offer anything that I wasn’t ready for. Playing through the Half-Life games I have

    When I die in mods it’s often due to its weird difficulty setting, pace or powerup placement. In games I die more often, since I am new to the mechanics and the universe. Takes time to learn and games often offer a much longer journey. Boss fights tend to get me killed until I figure them out. Other times, when dying too much, I have just picked a difficulty setting that is higher than my skill. I always play on normal. Only when I replay a mod/game I choose another difficulty to spice things up.

  7. MNM

    No, but I did it with Ep. 1 and 2 😀

  8. This poll could lead to another poll about how often you save.

  9. Daniel

    Heh, I thought you meant development wise. It’s even more impressive starting a mod and actually releasing something that isn’t crap (without dying of course).

  10. Since this post, I’ve managed C to A and Ravenholm in hard without dying.
    Not holding out much hope for Minerva Metastasis and the final fight of City 7 the Toronto Conflict may not be doable.
    I may have to bend my rules and go back to an auto-save.
    Offshore and Ravenholm are worth a try though.

    1. Good call on those titles Jasper, but you are so not getting through ” Metastasis ” without dying, but I would love to see you prove me wrong ! ( I’m in the middle of a third pass through now. Love this mod ! )

      I will honestly reply to this topic by saying that I simply don’t recall if I ever have.

      1. Back with a bang jjawnte. Good to see you again.
        Minerva: It’s after you’ve exploded the facility and the way back when I cannot not die or get so low on life that I know I cannot survive without out going back and doing it right. Back on the surface, no problems. I will one day – determined.
        I think I’ll have a bash at the The Citizen next before Citizen 2 is released (please!). The combat gameplay is straight forward enough and I know every move by now.

  11. Rikersbeard

    Regular as clockwork, no matter how short the mod I always find a way to get that red screen feeling. Sometimes looking up at the gad guys who killed me. I’ve been flattened by a few cupboards and killed by an empty bed frame!

    Not very lucky with those new gits, the ” Hunters” either.

  12. Worse than Phillip?..LOL… I’m a shoe in to usurp his position there, just ask him…lol

Leave a Response

Comment Formatting Guide

Well formatted comments are much easier to read. Please copy and paste the HTML Tags to use in your comment

  • HEADER: <div class="fix"></div><div class="sbe3">TEXT HERE</div>
  • BOLD: <strong>TEXT HERE</strong>
  • ITALIC: <em>TEXT HERE</em>
  • SPOILER: <span class="spoiler">TEXT HERE</span>