Half Life 2 Question

[Life_Is_A_Mess]

If you want a good perception of what's behind the game... then yes, you should play HL1.

 

[Sedweiler]

Not really, but I'd recommend getting HL1 anyway,. It's awesome.

What he said.

Plus, I'd recommend getting the expansion packs for HL1. Not that they contribute in anyway to the story-line (at least to my knowledge), but they are good expansion packs anyway.

 

[geon106]

I played HL1 first and it does make it more enjoyable IMHO but its not really needed.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Nope.

Half Life 2 is my second fave game of all time, but I tried HL1 this year and hated it with its antiquated shooting and terrible signposting.

The story is pretty clear in HL2, and anyway you can always just read up on HL1 on the web.

 

[David_G]

You don't have to, but Half Life 1 is a great game, so it'd be a shame if you didn't play it.

 

[Quad08]

Alright then, thanks for all the input everyone. I'll start as soon as I get the chance

EDIT: And if anyone knew of a place where I could obtain a copy of Half Life 1, that would also be great

 

[Ganthrinor]

Steam sells Half-Life still, I think.

 

[Maze1125]

A lot of people who play 2 without playing 1 complain that they don't get the story because they missed the first part.

But what those people don't understand is that even people who've played 1 felt like that.
The HL2 story is meant to be somewhat confusing, and very little is different if you've played 1.

 

[hardlymotivated]

No. Although it does help a lot, and I haven't played HL2 but love HL, I know enough about the HL2 story to know that there isn't an actual need to play the first to understand the second. The stories are pretty well seperated. I'd advise playing the first game anyway, but it's not essential.

It was the same with me for a while - I'd played HL2 but not the first, and certain parts which I didn't understand were clarified by a quick Wiki search, so just enjoy the game, OP.

I felt obliged to purchase HL1 when it was on offer on Steam for a ludicrously low price at one point, and I loved it as much as its sequel. So yeah, play and enjoy.

 

[D0WNT0WN]

Not really, but I'd recommend getting HL1 anyway,. It's awesome.

Im playing through it now. It's bloody difficult but a damn good ride.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Do I need to play Half Life 1 to understand whats going on?

Would be a good thing, but no, it isn't at all nessecary. Try HL1 though, it's surprisingly good, though a bit old.

 

[Ph33nix]

nope I played through Hl2 and eps first and I was fine. You might want to skim the wikipedia article about halflife 1 just so you get the basics. also skim the blue shift and opposing force ones two.

 

[Flour]

Take the basic plot of doom then simply replace "hardened space marine" with "scientist" and "demon" with "alien" to get Half Life 1.

 

[atomicmrpelly]

You can't get HL1 for anything other than Steam can you? And you can't get Steam for Macs either can you!!?

 

[Lordmarkus]

It's easier to immersive yourself in the Half-Life universe by playing the first one and it's an amazing game but I don't think you need too.

I strongly recommend it though.

 

[GuerrillaClock]

Nope, considering the game has essentially zero plot anyway and really the only thing it has in common with the first game is the characters. Who all look almost entirely different. So, you'll be fine.

 

[beddo]

So I've had the orange box for awhile now and the only games I've played on it have been TF2 and Portal. I've wanted to play Half Life 2 for awhile now, but I'm a guy who loves a good story and having a decent understanding of whats going on. So my question is...

Do I need to play Half Life 1 to understand whats going on?

The relations between the titles are nods at best, mostly just character names and the headcrabs.

 

[Captain Pancake]

The plots are unrelated, the only thing the two games have in common is the protaganist and the headcrabs.

 

[johnman]

Half Life is a grand grand game, I just been playing it. Very few modern releases compare favourably, which makes me sad.

 

[A random person]

No, Half Life 2's plot is actually quite distanced from Half Life's despite being caused by the first game.