Something that always bugged me in Opposing Force is that you'd encounter some fellow soldiers, briefly fight alongside them... and then just leave them behind, because they are unable to climb over an obstacle, or crawl through something.
In 'We Are Not Alone' and 'Friendly Fire', you meet up with some soldiers in the office complex, fight aliens, an engineer can helpfully open some doors for you... and then you continue by jumping and climbing and rope swinging. Of course, we know the reason they don't follow is they don't have the AI or scripting to jump across things or climb ropes. But storywise, it makes no sense, they did the same Bootcamp training as Adrian, they were taught to climb ropes too!
In the very next area, you meet a medic, then have your first encounter with the Black Ops. You find an an injured engineer, and need to bring the medic to the engineer to heal him, so he can then open a door for you. This is despite the fact that just 5 minutes earlier you were teamed up with an engineer in the office complex.
Once you've gotten through that door, you encounter some other soldiers. They talk about using the train system to get to 'Lambda Sector', maybe escape that way, maybe even have a shot at getting Freeman. But you have to fight a load of Black Ops. Once you've killed the Black Ops, your solider buddies might be dead, on the other hand there might be several survivors. But none of them will step onto the train with you. They are physically unable to step onto it, and you end up driving down the track on your own, leaving behind a squad of several troops! Even playing the game back in 1999, I was infuriated by this - WE have just killed the Black Ops, WE are supposed to be going to Lambda Sector and hunting down Freeman, so why the hell am I driving there on my own? Why can't they come with me?
Of course, even if there was some way for them to stand on the train and travel with you, when you get to your destination you end up having to do some jumping and climb up into a hole in the ceiling. So the squad wouldn't be able to follow you up into the Lambda complex anyway.
The way I see it, there's two possible ways to address these kinds of problems:
1) Good explanations for leaving soldiers behind
Black Mesa had you needing to leave behind scientists and security guards in the same places as in regular Half-Life, but gave the NPCs new lines of dialogue to justify it. In Unforseen Consequences, the the security guard that helps you fight zombies says that he's going to stay behind at the security desk to try and call for help. (And you can hear him doing so if you stay there.) Explains away why he doesn't crawl through a vent with you. And then the scientist that opens a door so you can access weapons, says that he's had enough excitement and he's going to stay in that security room, as it seems relatively safe. In Office Complex, when you get to an elevator shaft, a scientist says "I can't make that jump!" and a a security guard says "Guess I'm on babysitting duty, then. Go on ahead."
This method is the most faithful to the original game, but it does require you to come up with good explanations for why squads of soldiers don't want to stick with Shephard to escape or hunt for Freeman. I think that could be quite tricky though, I struggle to think of a good reason why those grunts wouldn't go with Shephard, especially when they actually have dialogue stating they want to team up with him, and have the same objective as him!
2) Keep soldiers with you
There was an Opposing Force mappack called 'Fallback: Fire and Ice' where the creator specifically wanted to give you the squad experience that Opfor lacked, and so you'd be able to keep your allies with you, as long as you can keep them alive. He designed the levels accordingly. Pretty cool. However, a remake of Opposing Force that cut all ladders/ropes/vents etc from the game for the sake of avoiding NPC obstacles would not be a very faithful remake. But there are some ways around this:
The 'Sweet Half-Life' method
The old HL1 mod Sweet Half-Life lets you team up with fellow scientists in HEV suits. The modder used clever scripting so that if you manage to keep them alive, they can accompany you across many maps. When you need to crawl through a vent, it seems like you might be leaving them behind... but once you have emerged and are a few metres from the exit of the vent, you can hear noises in the vent and then the HEV scientist emerges. The mapper basically teleports the scientist from the start of the vent to the end of it. Later you encounter actual teleport portals, and if you have any NPCs with you when you step through the portal, then a few seconds after you have emerged the friendly NPC will appear from the portal as well.
3) The 'Azure Sheep' method
In the mod 'Azure Sheep', half way through you team up with your girlfriend, female security guard Kate. When you crawl into a vent, climb a ladder etc she says "See you later!" Once you've accomplished something in the new area, there is always a path back where you can open a locked door from the other side to let her through. Could have a similar situation in Operation Black Mesa... could encounter one of those huge red fire doors, and your engineer could say "Hmm, there's no way I can cut through this! And I don't think I can drag this aceyelne tank through a ventillation duct. Shephard, you go on ahead, and see if you can find a way to get this open. I'll stay here and guard this area."
4) Use advanced scripts and animations
It would be amazing if grunts actually could be given scripts and animations so they can jump across gaps, climb ropes, jump over rubble. Similar to Alyx in Half-Life 2, and especially Episode 1, where she is scripted to jump over things, climb up buildings, or drop down gaps.
5) Come up with excuses to kill or remove allies
If there's a chance that the player might have some surviving squad mates, and you need the player to be alone for the next section, and there's no good reason why they wouldn't go with Shephard... could script some unfortunate event that kills off or separates the squad.
There could be a hole in a wall, that is seemingly empty. But if you have a squadmate with you, the squadmate is scripted to walk near to the hole... a headcrab jumps out of it and leaps onto his face, instantly headcrabbing him.
Or, have a Race X shock trooper teleport in right next to a squadmate, grab them, and teleport out. (Just like early in the game where a shock trooper kidnaps a scientist and teleports away with him.)
Or perhaps have a corridor where walking ahead of the squadmates triggers the ceiling to fall in or the floor to collapse. The squadmates could be crushed by debris, or perhaps it is nicer if they are simply seperated, they are on the far side of the rubble, or they've fallen into a level below. They say "Damn! There's another route here we can take, you go on ahead and we'll meet up at Lambda Sector! And if you run into Freeman before us... you give him our best regards..."
In 'We Are Not Alone' and 'Friendly Fire', you meet up with some soldiers in the office complex, fight aliens, an engineer can helpfully open some doors for you... and then you continue by jumping and climbing and rope swinging. Of course, we know the reason they don't follow is they don't have the AI or scripting to jump across things or climb ropes. But storywise, it makes no sense, they did the same Bootcamp training as Adrian, they were taught to climb ropes too!
In the very next area, you meet a medic, then have your first encounter with the Black Ops. You find an an injured engineer, and need to bring the medic to the engineer to heal him, so he can then open a door for you. This is despite the fact that just 5 minutes earlier you were teamed up with an engineer in the office complex.
Once you've gotten through that door, you encounter some other soldiers. They talk about using the train system to get to 'Lambda Sector', maybe escape that way, maybe even have a shot at getting Freeman. But you have to fight a load of Black Ops. Once you've killed the Black Ops, your solider buddies might be dead, on the other hand there might be several survivors. But none of them will step onto the train with you. They are physically unable to step onto it, and you end up driving down the track on your own, leaving behind a squad of several troops! Even playing the game back in 1999, I was infuriated by this - WE have just killed the Black Ops, WE are supposed to be going to Lambda Sector and hunting down Freeman, so why the hell am I driving there on my own? Why can't they come with me?
Of course, even if there was some way for them to stand on the train and travel with you, when you get to your destination you end up having to do some jumping and climb up into a hole in the ceiling. So the squad wouldn't be able to follow you up into the Lambda complex anyway.
The way I see it, there's two possible ways to address these kinds of problems:
1) Good explanations for leaving soldiers behind
Black Mesa had you needing to leave behind scientists and security guards in the same places as in regular Half-Life, but gave the NPCs new lines of dialogue to justify it. In Unforseen Consequences, the the security guard that helps you fight zombies says that he's going to stay behind at the security desk to try and call for help. (And you can hear him doing so if you stay there.) Explains away why he doesn't crawl through a vent with you. And then the scientist that opens a door so you can access weapons, says that he's had enough excitement and he's going to stay in that security room, as it seems relatively safe. In Office Complex, when you get to an elevator shaft, a scientist says "I can't make that jump!" and a a security guard says "Guess I'm on babysitting duty, then. Go on ahead."
This method is the most faithful to the original game, but it does require you to come up with good explanations for why squads of soldiers don't want to stick with Shephard to escape or hunt for Freeman. I think that could be quite tricky though, I struggle to think of a good reason why those grunts wouldn't go with Shephard, especially when they actually have dialogue stating they want to team up with him, and have the same objective as him!
2) Keep soldiers with you
There was an Opposing Force mappack called 'Fallback: Fire and Ice' where the creator specifically wanted to give you the squad experience that Opfor lacked, and so you'd be able to keep your allies with you, as long as you can keep them alive. He designed the levels accordingly. Pretty cool. However, a remake of Opposing Force that cut all ladders/ropes/vents etc from the game for the sake of avoiding NPC obstacles would not be a very faithful remake. But there are some ways around this:
The 'Sweet Half-Life' method
The old HL1 mod Sweet Half-Life lets you team up with fellow scientists in HEV suits. The modder used clever scripting so that if you manage to keep them alive, they can accompany you across many maps. When you need to crawl through a vent, it seems like you might be leaving them behind... but once you have emerged and are a few metres from the exit of the vent, you can hear noises in the vent and then the HEV scientist emerges. The mapper basically teleports the scientist from the start of the vent to the end of it. Later you encounter actual teleport portals, and if you have any NPCs with you when you step through the portal, then a few seconds after you have emerged the friendly NPC will appear from the portal as well.
3) The 'Azure Sheep' method
In the mod 'Azure Sheep', half way through you team up with your girlfriend, female security guard Kate. When you crawl into a vent, climb a ladder etc she says "See you later!" Once you've accomplished something in the new area, there is always a path back where you can open a locked door from the other side to let her through. Could have a similar situation in Operation Black Mesa... could encounter one of those huge red fire doors, and your engineer could say "Hmm, there's no way I can cut through this! And I don't think I can drag this aceyelne tank through a ventillation duct. Shephard, you go on ahead, and see if you can find a way to get this open. I'll stay here and guard this area."
4) Use advanced scripts and animations
It would be amazing if grunts actually could be given scripts and animations so they can jump across gaps, climb ropes, jump over rubble. Similar to Alyx in Half-Life 2, and especially Episode 1, where she is scripted to jump over things, climb up buildings, or drop down gaps.
5) Come up with excuses to kill or remove allies
If there's a chance that the player might have some surviving squad mates, and you need the player to be alone for the next section, and there's no good reason why they wouldn't go with Shephard... could script some unfortunate event that kills off or separates the squad.
There could be a hole in a wall, that is seemingly empty. But if you have a squadmate with you, the squadmate is scripted to walk near to the hole... a headcrab jumps out of it and leaps onto his face, instantly headcrabbing him.
Or, have a Race X shock trooper teleport in right next to a squadmate, grab them, and teleport out. (Just like early in the game where a shock trooper kidnaps a scientist and teleports away with him.)
Or perhaps have a corridor where walking ahead of the squadmates triggers the ceiling to fall in or the floor to collapse. The squadmates could be crushed by debris, or perhaps it is nicer if they are simply seperated, they are on the far side of the rubble, or they've fallen into a level below. They say "Damn! There's another route here we can take, you go on ahead and we'll meet up at Lambda Sector! And if you run into Freeman before us... you give him our best regards..."
