Support NeoGAF

[Salsa]

oh my god people are insane. Half Life 2 is one of the most beautiful games ever to this day.

 

[Makoto]

she looks dumb on the left. Like some airhead posing as a runner just because the original model couldn't come but they needed to shoot everything this day so they went to the nearest cafe to cast some waitress.

You mean right...right?

 

[szaromir]

oh my god people are insane. Half Life 2 is one of the most beautiful games ever to this day.

And you're one of them.

 

[Salsa]

And you're one of them.

uh, why ?

 

[imthemaid]

Bitches wrists are out of this world.

the original alyx model's wrists were way too fat; they consistently killed my stiffy. this new texture pack makes all... the... di-ffer-ence, to my erection.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

uh, why ?

Because you don't appreciate the great modders.

 

[szaromir]

uh, why ?

Because of the other sentence?

 

[tass0]

oh my god people are insane. Half Life 2 is one of the most beautiful games ever to this day.

I love HL2 as much as the next guy, but it's a pretty ugly game.

 

[Pimpbaa]

The only thing I plan to add to Half-Life 2 and Episodes when I replay through them next time is ambient occlusion forced through nvidia drivers. While I do enjoy hyper sexualized female characters in my games, I don't want to change Alyx. Played through the games so many times, it would just feel wrong.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I love HL2 as much as the next guy, but it's a pretty ugly game.

It may be technically dated, but it still holds up pretty well due to great art direction.

 

[Why would you do that?]

Here's why I take the mod seriously: because it highlights the saddening level of misogyny still present in video gaming.

Just because some modders like breasts doesn't make it misogynist. Creating those bigger breasts is just a silly, immature thing (and I don't mean that in a bad way. Sometimes, silly, immature stuff is fun), not about how all women need to look a certain way or anything with a deeper meaning.

It's not like many girls and women don't do the same thing for men in whatever fan fiction, drawings, etc. that they create. But in the modding community, it is largely male-dominated, and therefore, you'll see stuff like that.

Most girls I know don't even take the exaggerated breasts and stuff in games and mods seriously...

I love HL2 as much as the next guy, but it's a pretty ugly game.

I'd hate to agree, but I do. I think even Quake III looks better.
The Episodes are much better looking, though.

 

[Ickman3400]

Here's why I take the mod seriously: because it highlights the saddening level of misogyny still present in video gaming.

You seem like a fun guy to hang around with.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Because of the other sentence?

I love HL2 as much as the next guy, but it's a pretty ugly game.

Uh, no. The art is great and stands up to this day. You're both nuts.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

You seem like a fun guy to hang around with.

You seem like one of those people who just says "videogames are just for fun don't think about them! Unlike all other media, they are somehow exempt from conveying cultural messages!" whenever someone wants to discuss a potential social issue.

 

[zoukka]

ITT: The crushing and sad reality.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

ITT: The crushing and sad reality.

You're going to have to be more specific.

 

[zoukka]

You're going to have to be more specific.

Whore-Alyx, DennisK and Anime-Fayth in one thread.

 

[jett]

HL2 is still to this day a visually striking game and needs no "help" from modders.

 

[szaromir]

You seem like one of those people who just says "videogames are just for fun don't think about them! Unlike all other media, they are somehow exempt from conveying cultural messages!" whenever someone wants to discuss a potential social issue.

There's nothing wrong with sexually attractive characters. They're lead characters in vaaaast majority of movies and a lot of books describe meeting them, too. Bioware games, DOA or Soul Calibur have boobs that go beyond attractive, though.

 

[dimb]

HL2 is still to this day a visually striking game and needs no "help" from modders.

I think the texture quality doesn't hold up as well as people are making them out to.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I love all the racist morons in this thread who prefer the "white" Faith with her average video game female body than the unique design of original Faith.

Fuck, what a sad thread.

 

[Thunderbear]

I can understand subjective changes to Faith's face (even though I feel the original has more character), why on earth would she need bigger breasts? And as a free-runner without at least a sports bra they would just get in the way. Small breasts are fine, I love small and big (but not massive), but sexifying women just for the sake of it just seems stupid. It's like that mod in Tomb Raider 1 where you could play as her naked. It's immature. Look at playboy if you want sex. I prefer strong, realistic females/males in games.

Reminds me of the train wreck that was Suckerpunch...

 

[zoukka]

There's nothing wrong with sexually attractive characters.

There can be.

 

[szaromir]

I think the texture quality doesn't hold up as well as people are making them out to.

And lighting. And geometry. And shaders. Etc. It's not a great looking game, passable graphics is the right description.

I love all the racist morons in this thread who prefer the "white" Faith with her average video game female body than the unique design of original Faith.

Fuck, what a sad thread.

Are generic animu characters considered white?

 

[RobertM]

next gen G man is not amused

 

[subversus]

You mean right...right?

Yeah, I'm ambidextrous and always mix up sides, lol.

 

[zoukka]

Are generic animu characters considered white?

Fuck yes.

 

[godels rotating universe]

There's nothing wrong with sexually attractive characters. They're lead characters in vaaaast majority of movies and a lot of books describe meeting them, too. Bioware games, DOA or Soul Calibur have boobs that go beyond attractive, though.

You're right! There isn't, per se. There is something wrong with giving a character enormous boobs, lacy lingerie and lipgloss because you didn't think she looked slutty enough.

 

[Ickman3400]

You seem like one of those people who just says "videogames are just for fun don't think about them! Unlike all other media, they are somehow exempt from conveying cultural messages!" whenever someone wants to discuss a potential social issue.

I'm more of a "stop whining who gives a shit" guy, with all media. Some guy made a big tits mod and some uptight people are trying to turn it into a giant women's rights issue.

 

[Makoto]

next gen G man is not amused
http://i.imgur.com/Rv5lA.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u712/avatar%20military.jpg

 

[CrunchyFrog]

The games invariably lose something when fans 'upgrade' the textures as far as I'm concerned.

As to the pics posted in the OP, yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. Textures that hires on models with lower polys really clash, especially that awful builting in "lighting" in the texture on Barney's suit.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

I think the texture quality doesn't hold up as well as people are making them out to.

No one is saying that the texture quality holds up great, but the great art direction makes the game hold up even today. The game intro, Nova Prospekt, Ravenholm and the entrance to the Citadel are still a joy to see.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

There's nothing wrong with sexually attractive characters. They're lead characters in vaaaast majority of movies and a lot of books describe meeting them, too. Bioware games, DOA or Soul Calibur have boobs that go beyond attractive, though.

I don't necessarily mind sexually attractive characters. I do mind people whose contribution to a discussion is "durrrr don't think so much."

 

[godels rotating universe]

I'm more of a "stop whining who gives a shit" guy, with all media. Some guy made a big tits mod and some uptight people are trying to turn it into a giant women's rights issue.

Haha yes, right, we're going to take to the streets marching for women's lib because we think that turning every female into a pornstar represents a sad facet of a hobby we care about.

 

[Always-honest]

I love all the racist morons in this thread who prefer the "white" Faith with her average video game female body than the unique design of original Faith.

Fuck, what a sad thread.

Although i dislike the design of the modded character, i can safely say you're contributing to the insanity of this thread.

 

[Rahxephon91]

HL2 ugly? I've now seen everything.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I'm more of a "stop whining who gives a shit" guy, with all media. Some guy made a big tits mod and some uptight people are trying to turn it into a giant women's rights issue.

It's obvious that some people give a shit. They have reasons. You haven't presented any good reasons NOT to give a shit. For the record, I'm not bothered by the Alyx mod personally, but I agree that it reflects certain norms that people rightly question sometimes. I'm defending the people who want to talk about it, but not necessarily their exact position.

 

[AzureNightmare]

Hey guys, I got a novel idea, why not just ignore...oh wait this is NeoGAF, carry on!

 

[demolitio]

Although i dislike the design of the modded character, i can safely say you're contributing to the insanity of this thread.

Agreed. I don't recall liking a different version of a video game character being racist... :/

Not that I like that one more than the original but that's a pretty big assumption to call them racists. If you disagree with me, you're a racist afterall.

Anyway, I continue to search for some decent HL2 mods to add to my next playthrough but absolutely nothing is jumping out at me. I'm trying to find comparisons of the original HL2 compared to the updated version that Valve did just to see how much of a difference there is though I doubt it's much different than before.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

Although i dislike the design of the modded character, i can safely say you're contributing to the insanity of this thread.

Why? The mod changes her fucking eyes so she looks more white.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

One of my favorite moments in the game, I was in awe the first time I saw it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVBj4XIx-Ug

 

[godels rotating universe]

I'm not entirely sure how we got sidetracked into discussing the pros and cons of sexing up characters with mods.

My original point was simply that, when Valve made the game, they obviously took a lot of time and effort not only making sure that every texture was good (because at the time, H-L2 had great textures), but also that the game presented a cohesive visual style. It's these two things together that make the game look so great.

By comparison, it's obvious that the creators of an overwhelming majority of texture mods are only really looking for texture to represent a given material at as high a resolution as possible, and don't care about how well the textures visually cohere overall.

 

[Salsa]

Because of the other sentence?

I love HL2 as much as the next guy, but it's a pretty ugly game.

It really isnt. It has recieved a lot of steam updates over the years to age better, and the art direction really sells it beyond what it can achieve technically. It has aged beyond perfectly and there's no need for mods.

Because you don't appreciate the great modders.

Sure i appreciate the modders, i love mods, i just dont think this game really needs them. When i said they were crazy i was talking more about the guys who re-did Alyx and Barney. That's taking some really unnecesary liberties.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I'm not entirely sure how we got sidetracked into discussing the pros and cons of sexing up characters with mods.

My original point was simply that, when Valve made the game, they obviously took a lot of time and effort not only making sure that every texture was good (because at the time, H-L2 had great textures), but also that the game presented a cohesive visual style. It's these two things together that make the game look so great.

By comparison, it's obvious that the creators of an overwhelming majority of texture mods are only really looking for texture to represent a given material at as high a resolution as possible, and don't care about how well the textures visually cohere overall.

This is my exact opinion on the issue. Didn't mean to get side tracked into gender politics. My true cause is visual cohesion!

 

[bengraven]

next gen G man is not amused

House?

Why did you fire Alyx and replace her with Megan Fox on collagen and fake tits?

Answer me House!

 

[Always-honest]

Why? The mod changes her fucking eyes so she looks more white.

SO? Does that make anyone a racist?

 

[fabricated backlash]

The Alyx Vance mods are some of the worst and pathethic displays of fan made mods.
Make me want to puke.

 

[Dennis]

I love all the racist morons in this thread who prefer the "white" Faith with her average video game female body than the unique design of original Faith.

Fuck, what a sad thread.

Racism in this thread?

OK so now we have textures and fan art being sexist and racist.

LMAO one of the most hysterically over the top threads in a long time. Now all we need is for someone to invoke Godwin's law and we can wrap up the thread....

 

[godels rotating universe]

Racism in this thread?

OK so now we have textures and fan art being sexist and racist.

LMAO one of the most hysterically over the top threads in a long time. Now all we need is for someone to invoke Godwin's law and we can wrap up the thread....

At what point did anyone claim that textures are sexist and racist?

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

SO? Does that make anyone a racist?

Yes, it does. That's like giving Sheva Alomar a lighter skin shade or giving Alyx squinty eyes and making her more Asian. You don't think there's anything wrong with that?