Crawfish

Sounds good to me. It is still only the second episode, after all. I'm sure Ross will get his groove going a few more episodes down the road.

Ha ha, dass a good one. Hey, as far as recording goes, I should hope there are at least different bugs. If it's all the same issues, then what's the point of a new engine?

If there was ever a Source 2 port of Half-Life 2, would you use it simply for the lack of bugs that would come with the new engine?

I think what it boils down to is that the CM dev prioritized aesthetics over atmosphere and gameplay, which really isn't doing it any favors.

If he doesn't, then I'm certain people will edit his voice over their own CM gameplay like they've done with Black Mesa.

1. There is a second configurator for this mod, and it allows the quick and easy selection of models to be used. (HD, HD CM models, or vanilla) 2. The shader and lighting enhancements are a quick switch on the single page of the configurator. No trial and error, or customizing required. 3. The 'explicit graffiti' you're talking about is entirely additional, so without it the game is just as 'empty' as the original. (thus negating the emptiness and boring parts of your argument) 4. Those 'reused textures' are already present in the vanilla game, and are no more or less apparent in CM13 if the 'offensive' graffiti is removed. I'm not saying you have to like CM13, but please don't post misinformation. I'm speaking from experience with just the configurator packaged with the Cinematic Mod, and I admit that even though turning off the FF models is easy, it's still time consuming to go through every single character and switch them off individually. And there was a hell of a lot of trial and error for the shaders, at least for me. That might be because I don't inherently know exactly what effect each option will have, because I have no idea what the intensity of the effects is by default. Keep in mind, I don't mean turning the shaders off or making them as minimal as possible. I'm saying it takes a long time to tweak them to preference. It didn't seem like the explicit graffiti was additional in my playthrough, so if it is then I admit to being wrong, but it seemed like it largely replaced graffiti in some areas. And I know the reused textures have always been there, but if the explicit graffiti is removed then they become much more apparent. Especially in new areas added by the mod, where the explicit graffiti is almost exclusively used over the vanilla overlays. I'm probably just letting my opinion get in the way of things a lot, but largely I feel like it should be easier to desexualize the mod. Instead of having to individually switch everything off, maybe it would be nice if there was a large-scale toggle. But instead, the default for the mod is World of Strippers, and even with the ability to change the models, you still have to go to an external source to get rid of the graffiti.

I've played through some of the Cinematic Mod, and there are good and bad things to say about it. The good: Decent quality high-res textures, some of the shaders are nice, some of the map changes can legitimately improve the experience. The bad: In order to get anywhere near a Half-Life-atmosphere experience, you need to scour the configurator and turn off all the titty models, tweak the shader and lighting options to be absolutely just right so that the bloom isn't blinding, and there's no way to get rid of the explicit graffiti or nude magazines without getting an external texture replacer to make them blank, and when you do that, 90% of the walls look incredibly blank and barren, which makes it very easy to notice reused textures, as well as making the landscape just plain boring. I personally don't like it very much. It feels like it's trying too hard to turn Half-Life 2 into Sexy-Battlefield-Life 2. But I actually think Half-Life 2: Update would be a nice idea. I played through it right after it was released, and it was honestly really nice. It fixed bugs, updated the engine and made lighting smoother and more consistent, and all over made it feel as if Valve started updating the game again. My only complaint on it was that it made Ravenholm green, which in my opinion, ruined the atmosphere and absolutely destroyed the original feel of the level, which is a major part of the Half-Life 2 experience as a whole. In the end I think it'd be best if Ross just stuck to Half-Life 2 vanilla, barring maybe a couple unofficial patch mods like the AR2 worldmodel fix and the Antlion thumper texture fix.

Well you'd have to wait for Freeman's Mind 2, Freeman's Mind 2.1 (Half Life 2 Ep1), 2.2, etc. So eventually by the ripe old age of 70, then he'll maaaaybe have some time for Black Mesa, and that's being generous. So... XD What's even more generous is assuming the Black Mesa devs will release Xen by then. (that one sarcastic emoticon that reddit uses Here)

You know, watching this got me thinking; What if Ross just got bored and started to do a new Freeman's Mind in Black Mesa? I know the idea's been proposed before, and people have edited videos of it, but the most recent, retail version of Black Mesa is incredibly different from the original Half-Life, and I feel like most of the commentary Freeman gives would be completely different. It would be fun to watch if Ross didn't have any projects and wanted to go back to his roots in a way. I'd especially love to hear Freeman's reaction to the guard getting mauled by an alien grunt from behind the door in Surface Tension.

I feel like this is a real episode, and Ross just posted it today to mess with us. Now the real question is whether or not he's gonna keep up with the series from here on out, or if this is just a little thirst quencher before a distant-future series?

Aw, I only placed Bronze. Oh well, at least sexy metrocop is finally in his limelight! Needless to say, I hope the games I want most are still there when Bronze winners get theirs. Just curious, does "Humble Origin Bundle" mean I'd need Origin to redeem the game? It's fine if I do, it'll just be a shame that my streak of having an origin-free computer will have to end.

At this point I think there are more games on the list than people who actually post actively on the forums! Maybe the first-place winners will get multiple choices? Or is everyone a winner?

Eh, it's worth a shot I suppose! I hope the images being a bit too big for the board won't hurt anything. 1: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: "Goddamn Paparazzi" 2: TES V: Skyrim: "Even in death, he still had his JAZZHANDS!" 3: Half-Life 2: "Paint me like one of your Overwatch girls" It's a good thing I love taking screenshots, that HL2 one is fairly old.

I hope you give Moon Gaming another try in the future. It wasn't my kinda thing, but it definitely has potential!

As for the art site thing, you should definitely make it something like a Booru, like Vinesauce has. They have their art site on Booru.org and it works out really well for them, especially considering they show off most of the art posted there every time they stream. That's just my personal preference. Something you can aesthetically alter to give it an Accursed Farms look would also be nice, instead of having to conform to the colors and designs of the website itself, like you'd have to do with DeviantArt.