* ongoing
In the past, I've heard lots of people saying things like "my god, ravenholm is the best" and "super scary", etc.
I'm curious because I'm not quite sure-> are people being serious or is this a joke?  Because in my opinion, Ravenholm was by far the worst level in half life 2.  Not sure where the technical start is, but once you get into that part with the rotating blades (not with Dog's scene,etc.) it all goes to hell.  Enemies are mindless pieces of crap that just walk towards you, the atmosphere sucks, and overall, it feels like the wrong game.  And then, my god, the jumping puzzles.  What were they thinking? 

Lots more, but I'm curious, this is a joke?  Because if not, what?  How is that scene where you're in the town with the rebels not the key scene people talk about?  What?

...or is it because you get to use the gravity gun for the first time in ravenholm....

I'm sure some people enjoyed it. I hated it, and I also hate the propensity for just dumping a shitload of headcrabs into an area and calling it a day.

THANK YOU FOR THE SPOILERS, BASTARD.

it was pretty creey, specially after you met that priest.

We don't go there anymore, which is a shame, because it's a pretty good level.

I think I was about 13 when I first played HL2. Personally, the scariest thing about ravenholm were the sounds the headcrabs made. I still get shivers when the poison headcrab screeches,

I didn't like Ravenholm much personally.

I hated that level it scared me :O!

yeah, Ravenholm was the worst part of the game for me too.

It's more well-known because it's fairly early in the game and it's the first place you get to use the gravity gun in practice. I actualy thought it was great. But, then again, I've never had any trouble with jumping from place to place thanks to playing too many jump maps on games like COD2.

Definitly not my favorite part of the game, although I think some of the items you could use on the head crab zombies were pretty fun (Circular saws, exploding canisters, those spinning blade things.)
But I never felt like mindless zombies were Half Life 2's strong points. I always preferred fights with the combine soldiers, It's just more fun to go against enemys that strafe and take cover rather than just
rush you.

It was just an intense area. Especially if you were going for the achievement. It involves you going through Ravenholm just using the gravity gun. I can see why some people would hate it, since it has some pretty irritating enemy types.

I don't understand the love for Ravenholm either. It sucked.

The howlers (?) and the dudes covered in headcrabs could be pretty tricky.  The regular zombie dudes were just there so you could have fun with the gravity gun, the spinny things and the gas traps.  Plus it had that priest.

The scene with the rebels isn't particularly memorable in comparison, imo.  It's good, but pretty similar to a lot of the rest of the game.

I loved Ravenholm.  It was a total change in tone and pacing for the game and I thought it was absolutely brilliant, despite the fact that it has poison headcrabs which fill me with nothing but a white rage.

I liked Ravenholm because it was the first place you got to use the gravity gun properly.

I loved Ravenholm, because when I first played it I was 12 and it was mignight. So it was quite creepy. And you got to use the gravity gun a lot!

I was fine with ravenholm until you got to the super fast headcrab dudes (I should know what they're called, but it's a while since I've played it). Those things scared the heck out of me. They'd come at me super quick and I'd have to attack quickly or they'd have me. The early parts of the level were pretty creepy, but were easy to deal with in reality, but later on it was maaaaad crazy.

Best level in the game, but HL2 has a lot of great levels.  The tricks and traps to the area are fun.

But yea, basically the first real gravity gun area, that's what makes the difference.

My least fav area in HL2 are the end areas where you have the super powered gravity gun.

Ravenholm had a pretty cool atmosphere and was full of jump scares but I hated the damn level. The enemies were so boring to me.

Ravenholm certainly changed up the rhythm of the game a bit, it was kind of a refreshing break from the rest of the game, and both ep1 and ep2 have done similar things but with more subtlety.

My least favorite level of HL2. Don't remember exactly why, but I do remember that I hated it.

To me, Ravenhold was an annoying series of waves of tiny enemies flying through the air, and a serious lack of ammo. I never thought the gravity gun was that much fun, so instead I felt forced to use it to conserve ammo.

Though I love the scream the zombies do when you set them on fire. That's the best scream I can recall from any video game. I want to know who voiced that scream, because it's amazing, and does a great job of conveying the agony of what being on fire must feel like.

I guess it was a great addition to your arsenal, just not that fun when using only it. I did have a lot of fun shooting stuff and then switching to throw a barrel or sawblade at someone, then go back to shooting people again.

Man, I need some more HL. Maybe I should play through the 360 version since I've only beat it on PC and have both.

I remember the creepiest part was when i was ontop of a building and all of a sudden a pipe starts shaking and one of those monsters start howling and it creeped me out

I don't know, I thought that part was pretty good. But It's very unlike the rest of HL so I can see why some people wouldn't like it. Don't you get the gravity gun right before you go there and that's the first time you can really throw around big saw blades that cut people in half? They have lots of exploding tanks and traps to play with, and those times when your up on a building and the pipes start shaking from those creatures climbing up all around you.

It was a very annoying level, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I don't have the game, but playing the chapter that was in the demo, I already don't like it (which makes me wonder why point insertion in the demo could've been longer than Ravenholm). First part of it was alright, a few jumps from headcrabs here and there, but when the different zombies started coming, my heart couldn't stop beating. I'm not sure what was worse, the super fast zombies, or the poison headcrab carriers, but I just stopped shortly afterwords. Couldn't take it.

That, and I kept running out of ammo, and the gravity gun was useless in areas that I couldn't use it proper.

nope, i loved it, it scared the fuck out of me, i found it original and though the crabheads may seem slow, the first time or two u play the game they always manage to scare you and startle you and sometimes reach you, espicially with that frantic red spider headcrab he'd pop up and go WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I was pretty glad to get out of that area but not because I thought it was bad. That shit creeped me out. Especially the first time I came across those dudes that jump at you kinda like L4D hunters.

 It took me forever to beat it because everything about it was just so annoying. I can understand now why Alyx doesn't go there anymore.

Ravenholm was amazing.  I don't get why anyone wouldn't like it.  It was amazing that the game suddenly turned survival horror and did it so well.

Ravenholm is the stupidest level in any game, period.

We don't go to Ravenholm anymore.

I didn't mind it really. Just another level.

I liked the level because I thought the atmosphere was well-done and the gravity gun's potential was shown very well. The puzzles later in the level, however, were annoying and it dragged on a bit too long.

To me it was one part playground to show off the gravity gun and another part horror game. I can definitely see where the frustration would come from with some admittedly terrible jumping puzzles and enemies that instantly bring your health to 1 with poison but other than that, I really enjoyed/was horrified with my time in Ravenholm. In regards to the mindless enemies, I think they served to illustrate the creepy and haunting atmosphere of the level to show a different side to the game while giving you enemies who didn't fight back to hard, allowing you to experiment with the different uses of the gravity gun. Never got tired of hurling saw blades at enemies to chop 'em in half.

Damn lift puzzle. I spent way too much time looking for the other switch.