Half-Life PS2 - Overcoming Cancelled Dreams | Trav Guy

It's impossible to talk about Half-Life for the PS2 without bringing up Decay, but what about the rest of the package? Join me as we talk about... most of it; really all of it except for Decay and the Alien bonus mode.
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Marphy Black's video on "Walter's World" ► • Half-Life - The Histor...
'Half-Life (Dreamcast) - Unused Intro Cinematic' by ‪@MarphitimusBlackimus‬
► • Half-Life (Dreamcast) ...
'Half-Life - Dreamcast - PC Port Trailer'
► • Half-Life (Dreamcast) ...
Half-Life 2 Interview 2003 (with Gabe Newell)
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Sega Dreamcast Commercials It's Thinking (1999-2000)
► • Sega Dreamcast Commerc...
#halflife #valve #pcgaming

[@ThatTravGuy]

100k subs and I'll pop Dr. Magnusson's casserole in the break room

[@littlebox2904]

make serious sam video

[@Dio_wants_heaven]

@@littlebox2904yes

[@TheIOGuard]

You villain

[@neongamer3137]

yes he is back to half life !

[@canadagalproductions9247]

Hello Travis guy.

[@chaosvolt]

In an era before Dr. Coomer, before Einstein wore those ridiculous ties, the World was Walter's.

[@whoisanarnb]

Damn if it wasn’t for Civvie I never woulda known about the og name for the dr coomer model

[@AlonzoTompkins]

“Don’t go into the light. It’s probably not up to code.” Thanks. I’m stealing this to use with my friends.

[@Probable.Orange]

Instant favorite tbh

[@Alexander-nd5de]

Agreed and I've just started watching. Gotta finish the rest

[@UsernotFound2018]

My favourite line is "That wall tazer is a suit charger you Jackass!*

[@ThatTravGuy]

Would you want to see more videos on note-worthy ports of games I've covered? Lemme know!

[@ianbough4122]

I know you want to give Deus Ex another shot in general, but learning more about the console port of the first game and the changes overall would be really cool!

[@g.u.959]

The Half-Life 2 port on Xbox is nothing short of a miracle - even though it’s mostly the same game, the performance differences and geometry being N64 level in some places is just bonkers. Would love to hear you talk about different ports, I think they’re neat!

[@eceldarkstar]

does AM2R count?

[@alexkelly6449]

Do duke 64

[@shotenno]

Duke nukem GBC/Advanced

[@etharchildres3976]

Fun fact, this is how I first played Half-Life... Four months ago, over 20 years after it was released.

[@Jckfrbn]

Best part about legendary games, there still legends no matter when you play them

[@ja-nathen]

Same here, except it was in like February of last year

[@ripcord4201]

Wow, you really are late to the party (no offense)

[@shlokwaghela9560]

Why would you tho? Like wtf? (I mean in the sense play on the ps2 in the current day and age)

[@etharchildres3976]

@@shlokwaghela9560 I got a PS2 from Goodwill. It still worked fine. I played some games on it, and they all worked, and I figured that since I didn't have a PC and everyone was raving about the port I might as well try it. Also, the game is not as crispy when played on tv, I thought the graphics were pretty smooth, especially the lighting. Loved the game, except for Xen, and Nihilanth wasn't fun either. Yeah, I can see why it's a lot of people’s favorite game.

[@notonthrax]

Reminder that you can play Half-Life on the PS2 with a keyboard and mouse. It has built in support in the game. It actually works.

[@VEN0M415]

Same with deus ex on PS2, problem is that there is no mention of the key bindings so I had to press every key to see what it did and wrote it down lol.

[@Gruntvc]

You can also play Soldier of Fortune Gold, Unreal Tournament, and Quake 3 on PS2 with mouse and keyboard too. Same for Dreamcast, but you need the right type while PS2 just used normal USB mouse and keyboards.

[@elianhg2144]

how? can you connect a keyboard to the console? can you do it on emulator?

[@notonthrax]

@@elianhg2144 if you connected a keyboard and mouse to the ps2 via usb, it would work in game. iirc you could also bind keys. not sure if you can do it on an emulator, but it is worth a shot.

[@eponymous7910]

@@Gruntvc quake 3 ps2 didn't have kb + mouse support. The Dreamcast version did though

[@Azelf89]

25:51 To clarify Trav, yes. Small talk between NPCs was always something that can happen in the PC version.

[@flordelizhawk358]

Yeah, I always noticed between the 2 scientists right by the turrets.

[@Chconroy]

It's cool hearing that this version was mostly solid while having changes that are more "neat" than just better or worst. Usually conversations around game versions boil down to which is the best, but these "altered, but not inferior" versions are fun to examine.

[@sunray2818]

There was a detialed interview before the game's release on GamePro magazine in 2001, Gearbox back then said they ultilized PS2's power a lot to make this port as good as possble and even better than original in some areas.

[@apyr34556]

Alyx shows off the mk5’s microphone communication capabilities in nova prospekt so thats very cool that they called back to decay with that part

[@ThePhotoshopGuy]

The first time I ever experienced Half-Life 1 was through this PS2 port, Young Me playing this game never really got that far, usually only making it to “We Got Hostiles”, and then not knowing what to do. Never beat this game till I finally played it on PC, but the memories of the PS2 port are still there.

[@werlynakadera1944]

I love these unfiltered textures so much more! No more blurriness! Gordon put on his glasses!

[@stormhought]

Time stamp?

[@luigitrollface]

you can disable them on the pc version, make a file in the valve folder called userconfig.cfg, and put: gl_texturemode GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR gl_ansio "0" gl_round_down "0" in it

[@multistuff9831]

In most source ports for quake you can use the console variable “gl_mip_map_linear” or something similair, I forgot honestly, it gets rid of the antialiasing on the textures completely. Hl1 should have something similar, you’d have to check in the console using either the “cmdlist” or “cvarlist” commands. Ultimately you could look it up

[@VinVonVoom]

You can actually have unfiltered textures on the PC version if you input the command "gl_texturemode gl_nearest" in the console.

[@Leo_8753]

@@stormhought the whole video

[@vladimirmuca849]

I want to believe that Joe escaped Black Mesa by using his forklift to kill any alien and soldier on the way out

[@joey-jw3rj]

The True Survivors of The Black Mesa Incident were those that were Officially Forklift Certified.

[@whoisanarnb]

Joe Forklift > Duke Nukem

[@mr.cheese2928]

His name is Gus... And you can call him Gustavo >:)

[@thunderspark1536]

​@@mr.cheese2928Does he own a local chicken joint?

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

His body was never found in any of the HL games, I think there is only one logical conclusion.

[@jcplays5831]

“Nobody tell Gabe” idk why but that’s just a nice outtake

[@timothymckane6362]

Seeing a teaser on hearing Civvie collaborating with the gameplay along with Trav makes me hope we can get that video in the future.

[@abdullahtshabal9522]

the mic scene better have a beetlejuice ball honk gag

[@SableDrakon]

Holy crap! Civvie has friends in prison! I feel so happy for him!

[@timothymckane6362]

This does bring a smile to my face.

[@mitzi856]

doesn't this imply that trav has been imprisoned?

[@alo7712]

​@@mitzi856 yep, either that......OR TRAV WORKS IN THAT PRISON!!!!

[@whoisanarnb]

@@alo7712 I don’t think workers are allowed to communicate to anything within the dungeon

[@jakedill1304]

Yhea, Cancer mouse has always had his back, even if the t-wt doesn't deserve it half the time... Cancer mouse is good people, and when Cancer Rat Terroir get's out of Solitary, I think Civvie 11 is gonna face some hard truths bout pushing away and belittling the ones who matter most... That is.. unless yall can get your library time switched to 8:30pm at the east wing tomorrow... Cause Unlike 11, Cancer Mouse has real freinds in this bitch... and I have an idea, also bring those paintbrushes we use where painting those radium watch dials... and some glitter.

[@awesome19ssbb]

seeing civvie during co-op stuff that isn't a cameo is something i need more of in my life.

[@StupidEdits]

did you know that "joe" the forklift driver is actually named gus

[@ThatTravGuy]

He's in the witness protective program and you just blew his cover

[@StupidEdits]

@@ThatTravGuy Oh god

[@twitchduke]

Civvie and Trav hangout chat sounds like a pretty great time….now to wait until it comes out.

[@ModderOfGames]

funny thing is, the people who made the Black Mesa version of the hazard course are also making a Source Engine remake of Half-Life: Decay

[@jacobnorris3903]

15:41 Oh hey Civvie!

[@vektor451]

fun fact: the original release on half life on cd actually had an animated menu, although i don't recall it having any music.

[@Swordslinger-hb1ns]

The first time i would experience and play the original Half-Life would be on my PS3 via ps2 backwards compatibility. For me this was what the cancelled Dreamcast port would’ve been minus all those infuriating loading screens that would make Anthem blush with envy. Enjoyed every minute of that port holds a lot of good memories. All in all I can see why people herald it as a masterpiece of the fps medium.

[@RainingMetal]

32:30 I didn't know you could shoot the mines in the original Half-Life, but I very much knew you could blow them up with explosives.

[@pissmilker2313]

Alyx communicates with Gordon through the MK.V Comms during the nova Prospekt levels in HL2 so...

[@DanielT42]

This was a lot of fun (and man I’m looking forward to the video with Civvie). I’ve wondered about this port, but now I think I’ll have to try it out. I didn’t expect to learn even more about Half-Life from it! Also, one feature you didn’t mention but that I’d love to try: this port works with keyboard and mouse. Now, _why_ you’d play a PS2 game with keyboard and mouse is a little beyond me, but it’s really cool that it works!

[@sebastiankulche]

I may be one of those rare people who has the PS2 at the side of its PC, so i can connect the keyboard and mouse easily and have the exact PC experience.

[@flamsey]

Otis and Walter actually both had backstories given to them in Opposing Force's Capture The Flag mode, along with all the other characters and maps in that mode! It's really cool, I'd read them all if I were you! Oh and actually the Resonance Cascade happened in December, look at all the calendars haha!

[@funnyspeedrun84]

“is that controller hitting the gritty?” was not the way i expected this to end, but i ain’t complaining

[@theblobconsumes4859]

Wished you played it with the PS2 Mouse, as this is one of the few games that support it; Would've allowed you to play with mouse and keyboard during this playthrough. Great video! After that sneak peek into Decay, I can't wait to see it.

[@lionocyborg6030]

25:50 “No! Are leptons really compound particles? Friggin’ doughnuts…”

[@fart_reverb_2]

honey wake up the new trav guy video just droped

[@NemesisTWarlock]

Just recently got my copy of this out of storage for digital preservation. Thank gods, it was starting to get early disc rot… check your ps2 dvds people, they’re coming up on 20 years old!!

[@atariboy9084]

I have both PS2 and the Dreamcast and you can use both mouse and keyboard on there PS2 USB ports and Dreamcast controller ports they are officially made accessories.

[@QMMarc]

Yooooo crossover episode coming ? lets goooo But man, I got so much nostalgia for the ps2 version, it was the version i actually finished growing up, i played the PC version before on a cyber cafe, but you know, didnt finish it with the time i had rented, and then bought it on the PS2 when i saw it. And holy shit i had completely forgot how different the models where! For some reason i had imagined and convinced myself that it was the same as the HD models but seeing that health station with the needle fuckin' awoke my memories right up! Wonder if someone ported those models for PC.

[@mortenera2294]

Having Half-Life on OG Xbox would've been amazing. Its hardware was pretty comparable to most computers in 1998, and the HDD would've allowed for mods and expansions on Xbox Live

[@jubbie1122]

Probably didn't happen because everyone was so caught up on the Half Life 2 port. But could've made for a solid port indeed

[@dusk-dude7772]

The whole part about switching discs to play the demo reminded me of when I was a kid you could play Dynasty Warriors 3 on Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends by swapping the discs.

[@BirchPig]

That "damn son..." trailing off with the old reverb effect that just sounds broken is funny as shit

[@frankjaeger2565]

22:12 that's a very Glados moment

[@austinblack7991]

Here’s something that’s odd Trav gearbox was thinking of porting half life to the GameCube

[@s.p.d.magentaranger1822]

Wow....how the frag would that work?

[@uria3679]

I can’t wait for the Decay video so I can go full classic Willy Wonka on the people who still can’t accept the confirmation that a Half-Life protagonist is dead

[@missingindy]

“Is that controller hitting the griddy?” -Travicus MacGuy

[@StudioMod]

I grew up with HL and Blue Shift on PC. But I actually beat it for the first time on PS2 because it was fun to play it on a bigger screen and the graphics were better with HD models not found on PC. Not to mention I'd play splitscreen Decay and deathmatch with my sister all the time. I, to this day, miss the PS2 HL Menu Theme and the updated Health and Suit Chargers.

[@GoliathSR]

Love this guy lol 5:14

[@toma01001]

The most 100k KZbinr that isnt at 100k. Keep up the good work!

[@telarocky]

I love how every time he messed up Gordon, he was still completely in character

[@yannick7896]

I'm always so happy whenever trav uploads i cannot state how excited i was for this video ever since it was announcend. I love half life and this channel keep up the great work! sorry for bad grammar english is not my first language

[@smith3527]

I played this game on pcsx2 1.7 version and it looks just as good as the pc ver upscaled to 1080p

[@Мот-з9л]

I would love to see Trav and Civvie play together.

[@WednesdayMan]

Half-Life PS2 has its own settings menu with a widescreen setting in it, you probably should look there if you want to set the game to 4:3.

[@Dio_wants_heaven]

hi guys welcome to the new video

[@gilbert64]

I have a pirate copy of half life for the dreamcast which I brought with a "new" console. (i say "new" because the console came with its box, its internet cd and the manual, but someone ate the top of the manual so that kinda, like, yes) The framerate went pretty good, and the load times weren't as long as I saw in videos making gameplay of the game, the only problem I had with the port was that, for some reason, the blocks the game needed increased when I advanced the story so I couldn't get to far until the game was telling me that I didn't have enough space to keep saving progress, (I had sonic adventure 1 and 2 files I didn't wanted to delete them) I found a post in reddit talking about this problem and someone answered that it is a bug that was never fixed

[@E_blanknamehere]

7:08 gosh, I love him. I really do think it's the charm of his delivery that kept the half-life scientists relevant to this day

[@zebitus5731]

I got HL1 on PS2 and beat Decay on PC and shit and god its great. Christmas was great and I got a ton of HL1 related things and overall its really cool they got this huge game on PS2

[@zipperozicvideodump]

So, small thing-- You *can* get yourself stuck in loading sequences in the original half-life (I've especially gotten myself stuck in that same spot in On a Rail MANY times) And I've seen Scientists talking to each other a lot in the original HL as well (though it is a bit of a rarity to see if you play quick and dirty). Conversational behavior tends to happen when there isn't really anything going on.

[@TAKESHIRONORIMITSU]

I always got stuck in the pipe that leads out to the cliffs in Surface Tension so often that I memorized the warp to that map, c2a5a

[@monkeyman767]

I'd seen my cousin playing half life on PC a good few times, but the PS2 version was how I first played it fully through myself, and it still holds a really special place in my heart. Also, 26:30 I've had that happen literally just last week with that guard. It's definitely a thing.

[@larrylaffer3246]

I have it somewhere. I bought it 2nd hand at a supermarket video rental store. It's the 1st version of Half-Life I played actually.

[@hungryboi4]

intro was gold i love this channel holy sh-

[@hebonky]

Fun fact, in Op for and Blue shift every character is voiced by John Saint John. All of them It's why Barney sounds weird.

[@georgeviney9360]

Omg you actually partnered up with civvie 11 I am so happy

[@KamiJoJo]

This might as well just be one of the more unique versions of Half-Life next to it's retail release, I had no idea Gearbox went into such an ambitious way to extend this universe from that point onward. 19:06 You can achieve the same effect by setting the interpolation to Nearest Neighbor in PhotoShop when using Free Transform, there's no need for layer modifications.

[@samuelneese482]

This was actually my introduction to Half Life. I had heard of the franchise but until my friend got a copy of the PS2 version I'd never played it. I was instantly hooked.

[@kakokapolei123]

Man, my first experience with Half-Life was from that PS2 Jampack demo disc, and I eventually convinced my parents to buy the full game. So many memories with this port.

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

I have this game and it's awesome. Decay is an interesting deal and I also love the extra lore the game's manual gives!

[@CozyRhea]

not even fully through the vid yet but damn this is interesting

[@alesta2212]

13:41 the feature was finished, the cheat code was just very well hidden in Decay. When the modders who ported Decay to PC looked at one of the maps they found a secret room with the cheat code, but it had very specific steps to get to. You can find the code in the PS2 version normally.

[@Web720]

I could've sworn I remember a bit of random info that before Aperture Labs/Portal was a thing, it was called Albeit Labs or something before the retcon as Black Mesa's rival company.

[@PH96Official]

Glad this came up in my recommended you just earned yourself a new sub 🎉

[@littlebox2904]

i must say this is a pretty good video! keep it up!

[@canobeans316]

Very Happy to see a video on half life’s ps2 port truly a weird pice of gaming history!

[@zekeram129]

That intro was fucking gold

[@bboythekidstudios]

This version was my first experience with HL1, so imagine my shock when I finally got around to the PC version and failed to make basic jumps. I thought at first that the game was busted.

[@vhproductions]

"Ah, hello fellow Scientist! Nice hat. ...wait a minute. AAAAAAAAHHAAAAAHHHH!!" -that one Einstein, 2023

[@austinblack7991]

Omg Trav is friends with civvie!

[@Halu_Miodis]

I think i remember that this version had something like an extra mode that would let you play as a vortigaunt

[@mahmoodalmahmood7014]

If you beat all levels on half life: decay with highest rank you unlock the secret level which also can be played 2 players.

[@youreviltwinLP]

@@mahmoodalmahmood7014 there was also an "alien mode" cheat code that let you play the whole singleplayer game as a vortigaunt.

[@andrewdeluca7352]

You could put in a cheat code which activated Alien Mode. Then all you had to do was turn on alien mode, and start a new game.

[@ge4]

Half Life for the PS2 is a port done right. Even the models used in HL PS2 are the ones that were for many "SD MODEL"

[@catgamer1000official]

I played Half-Life 1 in VR as my first experience, it blew my expectations into the sun with how awesome it was, the Resonance Cascade was cool, the Tentacles were creepy and the killing of them was exhilarating, and the Ichthyosaur was horrifying. Then I played it on flatscreen and still had a lot of fun, it just wasn’t nearly as good as it was in VR or for a first time. I can’t wait to finally get a VR Ready computer to play HL2 VR (I played HL1 on the stupid Quest)

[@CherryPixelBun]

FWIW the Quest port of Half-Life 1 is way better than the PC VR mod is at the moment. The VR mod for 2 is amazing, it's a perfect adaptation and I'm excited to play Episode 1 in a week or two.

[@catgamer1000official]

@@CherryPixelBun The only thing I disliked about the Quest port were the underwater sections, the wave effect made me nauseous.

[@ripcord4201]

i just think that the PS2 port of HL1 is underrated as fuck.

[@sebastiankulche]

Yeah, imo one of the best PC to console ports alongside the original Doom on PS1

[@yesseru]

9:29 why is there a tissue box on his night stand?¨ Am I just too dirty minded or something.

[@ThatTravGuy]

Let a man beat his shmeat in peace, yo

[@blukat9903]

17:47 yeah about that... The original release of half life had those animated menus and to some extend team fortress classic and half life deathmatch classic with get this native mod switching menu that made it easier to get any installed mod going with a click and it make it possible to have all goldsrc games appear at the server browser and even chat rooms that acts like a discord for friends to chat without the need to be playing in the same server but then all of that was scrapped in the steam release which while added quality of life improvement with windows and not temporarily leaving the server when pressing ESC and being able to play music with having a CD player it cut down on many menu and mod support features and even some in-game effects changes i recommend tracking an original release disk or even using Xash3D because it's more like the original menu and over all good enough for PC and even mobile devices and i heard it could run on switch but i can confirm

[@MikeReiner]

The menu was animated because that’s how it was on PC. Valve tossed it for the steam version.

[@Spongegar-meme]

You’re almost at 100K, get ready!

[@PowerUpT]

You mentioned the Steam release a lot and comparing the PS2 version to that. If you haven't, I think it may be interesting for you to check out the WON versions of Half-Life. I got a copy of the Platinum collection (with Blue Shift) for $20 a few years back complete, might be more now, but if you run out of HL stuff to make I think others would enjoy seeing some of the differences, although they wouldn't be as drastic as the PS2 version.

[@ralseibutitsacat8169]

The only reason why joe lived is cause he was forklift certified, there fore, he can’t be killed unless the zen has a license of their own

[@ryguy9876]

15:45 oh, hi Civvie! I didn't know you and Trav were friends!

[@miraclewillow1]

oh the gate closing on the tram happened to me too, but on the 25th anniversary update on my first playthrough...

[@Fedor_Kisliakov]

I swear, I have played the first Half-Life on Dreamcast. Back then, it was hard to buy licensed games in Russia, only quote on quote "pirate discs", and this one was no exception. It had a one-voice russian dub, the hd texture pack and abysmal loading times. I do not know where my father bought it. Maybe some russian retailers got their hands on the unreleased Dreamcast port somehow.

[@LancerAccelerant]

Did you call the forklift man Joe? it is Gus

[@ThatTravGuy]

Great, thanks for exposing his previous Identity. Now he needs to report to his Witness Protection Program rep. Thanks.

[@whatisfzeroanymore2nd]

FWIW, the textures being unfiltered is how the game was actually meant to look. That's how it looked when running on most CPUs from that era, only fancier later GPUs on windows could "smooth" the textures out.

[@GeekMasterGames]

29:51 Trav... TRAV! It's "gibbed" like giblets, not gibbed like goblets.

[@ThatTravGuy]

I say it like that just to bother you :)

[@missingindy]

10:13 …y’know, that’s an interesting idea for an SCP, lemme write that down

[@DyoKasparov]

"don't go into the light it's probably not up to code" omg

[@ajflink]

There needs to be a new "genre" of games like PS1-like games to emulate the signature hardware rendering of said console called Dreamcastesque/Dreamcast-like/Dream-like where it emulates the limitations of the Dreamcast or actual runs on a Dreamcast (but probably a modified one).

[@austinblack7991]

Now if only valve would put half life opposing force blue shift decay half life 2 episode one and episode two on the Nintendo switch

[@TrippingHawk]

this is THE definitive version of HL1. It's so annoying there's not a solid port of it for PC. I loved all the little upgrades the PS2 version had.

[@sebastiankulche]

I agree. And while there is a PC mod both for the PS2 version and Decay i think they still need more time in the oven.

[@Smellbringer]

Randy couldn't get his hands on the online kits because they were too greasy to keep hold of the kits.

[@saulojaramillo7738]

Well damn, minecraft announced a mmX dlc yesterday. I am in indestructible joy. I Wait

[@wholefttheydogatcentralpoint]

"you know what would make me hit the gritty is if you subscribed to the video" bro what

[@Duckman2319]

I still believe the resonance Cascade was caused by gordon because of the microwave

[@cjtheboi1918]

Fun fact: Many of these models and textures were brought to PC in the Half Life mod Expanded Arsenal, which is a fun time!

[@peacemaster8117]

"I believe Randy Pitchford" Trav... bro...

[@michaelsheehan8245]

15:44 is that civvie 11