Gordon Freeman
- Thread starter Wow they sure are generous with the usernames
- Start date
Recommended Videos
he's a nerd, who kicks aliens asses in our world, and then goes to their wolrd to keep kicking their asses some more
how awesome is that
there hasn't been any nerd hero since the Atari ST and Amiga versions of Jim Power
(Lester the Unlikely doesn't count, k?)
how awesome is that
there hasn't been any nerd hero since the Atari ST and Amiga versions of Jim Power
(Lester the Unlikely doesn't count, k?)
It's funny because the whole character is developed through other people...Geo Da Sponge said:
Half Life is an original series, and a pioneer of the genre. Younger gamers and/or people who missed out on Half Lifes when they came out have seen many of the elements that originated in the series done to death by games like Halo and Call of Duty, and therefore Half Life is nothing special to them... (And I'm talking game elements people... Half Life was not the first thing to feature the basic sci-fi "3 races" formula.)
EDIT: I didn't really answer your question... It's not a matter of having character features as much as it is knowing his motives, and relating to him... Half Life does a good job of this.
The only reason anyone cares for him is because he is the vessel which the player uses to experience the game. He is the player, so the player gets to experience the HL world through unfiltered eyes. He has as much of an idea of what's going on as the player does, and is really just an average joe who picked up a crowbar. This does NOT make him a good character, it makes him an effective puppet for the player to control. Everyone raving about the characterization of Gordon Freeman is only projecting their own personal motivations onto the blank canvass Valve made.Antonidious said:
Honestly, the fact that we are even able to analyze this character on such levels proves that:Wow they sure are generous with the usernames said:
A: He's one of the most interesting characters ever, to say the least. (I love Halo, but Master Chief is boring, and was way more intriguing before they started trying to give him depth.)
B: Video Games are art. Hell, most English classes won't analyze Othello to the degree which we are analyzing Gordon Freeman on here.
Wait, you're not aware of the conspiracy? People only supported Half Life 2 out of nostalgia for Half Life 1. Afterwards everyone agreed to support the rest of the unfinished bits so after more than 12 years Half Life 2 can finally be finished. When it is the collective gaming community will "Carrie" Gabe Newell at GDC or E3 or some other show for his damage to gaming.
For those who are unfamiliar with Carrie, watch the first half:
For those who are unfamiliar with Carrie, watch the first half:
He's not Hamlet. Hes whoever we want him to be. And thats why we like him. He doesnt have to speak, cause we usually say something instead.
Discuss-able != interestingTomLikesGuitar said:
He literally has NO character other than what other people assign to him. The only thing to analyze is the lack of anything else to analyze. This is like having a blank canvass at an art show.
I hope your not serious...Souplex said:
As someone who played Half Life 2 on a whim and loved it, I can say that nostalgia has nothing to do with it. Half Life 2 was a REALLY good game.
People seem to forget how quickly a great game is ruined by overhype. It happens with movies all the time (V for Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, etc...).
I'd like to point out also that under-characterization is not necessarily a bad thing in itself. The protagonist of Portal was the same way, except with an actual character model. The reason that worked much better in Portal was because who you are is irrelevant. You are unimportant to the science, which is the real focus of the story. You are nothing more than a lab rat running through a maze, testing out the capabilities of an advanced piece of technology worth far more than your life.
Half Life runs into the issue of having a centrally driven narrative that is being propelled by the mute protagonist. Your importance to the events of the game become increasingly meaningful. That is one of the reasons I enjoyed Episode 2 so much: you're there to help the scientists who've gotten a whole rocket built on their own, not to save the world by murdering every last combine on your own like you're the freaking doom marine.
Half Life runs into the issue of having a centrally driven narrative that is being propelled by the mute protagonist. Your importance to the events of the game become increasingly meaningful. That is one of the reasons I enjoyed Episode 2 so much: you're there to help the scientists who've gotten a whole rocket built on their own, not to save the world by murdering every last combine on your own like you're the freaking doom marine.
Right... Except that I played Half Life before I played Halo or Call of Duty. In fact I'm fairly certain Half Life was the first FPS I ever played. And I still don't see why people make such a fuss about Gordon Freeman as a character. His character is not developed through other people, as they rarely comment on his actions or behaviour beyond wryly mentioning how he never seems to talk. If he was developed by other characters, they would pass comment on his tendency to throw anything that isn't nailed down at the friendly NPC's heads, or jump around the room at random during long conversations. And his motivations are never explained what so ever. In fact, I'm fairly certain he only gets dragged into the centre of all the chaos in the series because the G-Man is using him.TomLikesGuitar said:
I'm quite alright with having an utterly mute faceless character as the PC. He serves his purpose just fine. But people need to stop acting like he is some kind of positive point in favour of the series rather than just a convenient tool for Valve to use.
The fact that we are analyzing him proves nothing, since it's fairly easy to analyze anything to a level of detail that the creator never thought of. Which is not to say that Valve didn't put thought into Gordon Freeman, they just didn't put thought into him as a character. That was the point. If people want to praise Gordon Freeman as a well implemented piece of game design, fine. But please don't act as if he's an interesting or developed character.TomLikesGuitar said:
Also, Half Life 2 was a great game with a great narrative with an underwhelming main character to say the least.
