How come this game never gets the recognition that Half-Life does for revolutionising the FPS genre despite coming out a full year earlier? Does Half-Life just get the spotlight because of Half-Life 2 and Goldsrc mods?Dark Forces 2 includes most of what Half-Life gets called groundbreaking for; a full plot, problem-solving to navigate the levels, non-hostile NPCs, modern WASD control scheme, 3D graphics which are a bit more low-poly but a similar enough level. The only thing it doesn't have is seamless transition between levels without cutscenes, but it takes place across multiple planets so that wouldn't work anyway.
>>735138484I thought Half-life was groundbreaking for its cinematic scripted sequencesBut yeah Jedi Knight was ahead of its time in many ways and its level design still mogs many games that came after.Fun fact, IIRC the first Dark Forces was the first Doom clone to include looking up and down in a true 3d environment, and consequently made heavy use of verticality.
half life had a realism to it. jedi knight feels like you're watching a tv show between gameplay bits.for context here's the average boomer's reaction to half life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qMO1fMm8FU and dark forces 2 doesn't come close to this atmosphere
>>735138848The live action bits were LITERALLY kino
I'm still salty
>>735139197Why, was it not the best game ever?
>>735138484It still has its foot in the door of older FPS while HL1 doesn't in quite the same way. It's definitely a step forward in the same way Unreal is though.
>>735138484Knowers knowI disliked JKII and Academy for being too star warsyThis had the absolute perfect balance of grit and fantasy
>>735138484it's very simplestar wars aesthetics are extremely ugly. grey levels with white lights get old fast. duke nukem looked better.
>>735139371You didn't get to fight Darth Vader inside an Egyptian temple
>>735140190>filtered by Nar Shaddaa
>>735140485You could play Darth Vader in multiplayer so this is a scene that could have happened in the game
>>735138484I think it's the level design. Games like JK2, Unreal and Turok featured vast open areas with nothing interesting in them. I do admit that the rotating ship is one cool ass level in JK2 though.
>>735140505no, it's mostly the ugly and empty imperial interior designs. they just aren't appealing. similar problem in jedi knight 2. games like duke nukem and half-life have a much more inviting and interesting art direction.
>>735140690I like the sense of scale in JK2. The size itself was part of the visual language. >>735140701The vast majority of Half-Life takes place in underground labs and bunkers
>>735140862>The vast majority of Half-Life takes place in underground labs and bunkersyes, and they look great, using details like wayfinding lines, animated objects, lots of interactable objects and loads of environmental storytelling. half-life present you with a place you want to explore, and very few places look sterile.
>>735138484no havok physics, no seamless transitioning between levels, no cool looking waterit was praised for its light saber combat
>>735140862I remember I downloaded a mod that added a grapple hook to the bryar and would spend hours just exploring the out of reach areasGame is BIG
>>735141119HL's level design is more about clever detail, JK relied on the shape and size of things. Micro vs. macro scale.
>>735138484Half-life is better rememberred than this garbage, because it doesn't have one enemy attacking you from behind every five feet like in JK2DF.Also, Half-life doesn't give you this claustrophobic feeling by forcing you to make long convoluted paths around and over every house, like walking 2 miles in a small 10 meters wide area, but actually uses sprawling maps.Also HL isn't boring af.and HL is mostly remembered because it makes an innovative (for the time) use of cinematic scripted sequence, that gave you the feeling of going through a story, rather than going through a long path systematically killing every enemy hidden behind every door, like this "game"
>>735140190The expanded universe setting is awesome and there were great levels like the Fuel Station Launch.
Anyone remember the awesome mods for DFJK like Army TC, the Final Fantasy Mod, the Macross Project or Art of War?
>>735143135I actually got to play the Goldeneye mod in MP. It was pretty alright.
>>735143135Why was Army TC never finished?
>>735141958half-life also had a lot of "macro scale" design. the game constantly played with showing the player big areas. the difference to dark forces 2 was that the big areas weren't utterly empty.design-wise, dark forces 2 was on the technical level of quake 1, but with taller levels to force jump around in them, making all encounters feel spread out. basically the early open world meme.
