Half Life 2, why?

[Xerosch]

Double post is double.

 

[earsOfChainsaw]

I was taking your argument seriously, up until you said that you didn't think there wasn't enough story and then said you like Left 4 Dead.

 

[Chibz]

Last point: if you call a game, that is widly regarded as a masterpiece, a piece of shit, what do you think of games, that are truly crap? Like Battle: L.A. the game?

Come now, there's a large area between considering a game a masterpiece and considering it a "piece of shit".

I'll just never understand HOW sucha meh-game got such a rabid following.

Sooo... why does almost everyone moan about how classic games are weaker than they expected? Should be fairly obvious that classic games introduced elements that surprised players and thus copied many times by other developers.

I played the game back when it was new. It seemed weak then, it seems even weaker now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Would you look at that, someone who thinks he's an exceptional individual for not liking Half-Life 2.

Never seen that before on the Escapist, have we?

 

[Xanadu84]

If someone makes the greatest hamburger the world has ever seen, but you don't like hamburger, you will probably not like the greatest hamburger ever. Half Life 2 focuses on a number of things that maybe you just don't like, and really utilizes the strengths of games as a medium. So it gets loads of well deserved praise for it's triumphs of design. If you don't like it, that's not a problem, but it is taste.

Just remember that as a connoisseur of games, one of the hardest things to do is to admit to the strengths of a game that you...happen to not enjoy. It took me a while to come up with the reasons why Halo succeeds so well as a game, despite the fact that I find it dull as dirt, for example. I also had to get over the idea that, "Good for a console shooter" is not a real response, its passive aggressive nonsense. I think I became more open minded and understanding of the medium for it. Or you could just leave it alone, decide you just don't like Half Life 2, and you will still be able to enjoy games. It's your call.

 

[mireko]

This thread appears to be less about Half-Life 2 and more complaining about the hundreds of other threads about this same damn subject.

This thread is now about commenting on the people complaining that this thread has been made many times before.

Then the thread can be about complaining about the people commenting on the people complaining that there are hundreds of threads on the same topic.

If we keep this up, we can break the Internet.

 

[Zaik]

Oh God. We literally had this thread once Yesterday, and once the day before.

May I suggest someone open a "I hate Half-Life so much, I feel the need to open the 5 billionth thread about it!" User group?

Done.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/I-hate-Half-Life-so-much-I-feel-the-need-to-open-the-5-billionth

Discuss.

 

[kortin]

I think op is on to something here. Why do people have opinions?! Why oh why can't they accept that *game/movie/song* is obviously *bad/good*?!

Edit: To be fair, Half Life is a series that people make too big of a deal about. I love the games, but I think that people just need to stop forcing their opinions down other people's throats.

 

[Snowalker]

We've just [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.280978-Storytelling-in-Half-Life-2?page=2] had a thread like this.

My main reason for liking, loving, in fact, the series is because of the mystery. G-man I view as one of the best villains ever to be depicted in a video-game.

Sorry, I've heard this G-Man is an Awesome villain thing a lot, how is G-Man a villain? I see him as a "the ends justify the means" kinda guy, sure he gives Gordan the shaft, but because of this, he saves humanity. He's creepy and mysterious, but that doesn't make him evil. I just want some clarification, or at least a good bit of reasoning.

 

[ultimateownage]

You hate it because everything about the game you compared to something only slightly like it. When someone gets detailed characters and just says 'Morgan Freeman look alike' I die inside.
If you went into it without looking for similar things from other stuff to help you miss the point entirely you might enjoy it more.

 

[cookyy2k]

I really don't get where some of you people get off calling people unintelligent for not liking a game. I agree with the OP, it's terrible and I've never understood the hype.

Call me unintelligent if you like but I'm a menber of mensa and have a masters degree in physics so I must have something going on up there...

 

[i7omahawki]

There is no talking, no story, it keeps swapping between dull shooting and a zombie game.
Now, I am only at the prison level thing, and am so bored I doubt I´ll be finishing this. But does it get better? Is it ever explained why Gordon is doing all this stuff?

I disliked just about everything about this game, and to be honest have a hard time seeing why anyone would enjoy it.

So the question is, did you like it? And why?

I really liked it, despite not playing it until wayyy after it was released. It is a very deep game, in that the environments are immersive and the story is almost in the background. The story is fantastic, but mainly because it isn't in your face. You're fighting for survival, that seems quite clear throughout the game for me, and it's a state that is rarely achieved so well in other games. Every corner or crevice could hold a monster who will kill you, that to me builds good tension.

It's quite simply a fantastic game, which of course you're free to not like.

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Terminal Blue]

It was a decent game, but I'm not quite sure how a silent protagonist running around in a suit of power armour and going around from place to place shooting aliens, humans and zombies with a selection of fairly common weapons is really that far from the FPS I usually play.

I'm actually old enough to have been of shooter playing age (which was a little higher back then) when the original half-life came out, and first person shooters were not the ubiquitous dominant genre they are today. We had doom, quake, unreal and goldeneye. That was pretty much it until 1998.

Half life is not similar to the other shooters on the market. It set the formula which other shooters have followed. Before that point, just about every FPS was copying Doom. After that, they started copying Half Life. Every game since, without fail, especially any kind of concept of realism or story in shooters, has felt the touch of Half Life either as a direct influence or very occasionally as something to rail against.

Half Life does not have a story in the sense that Halo has a story, it doesn't pull you out every few minutes for an exposition-laden cut scene. Still, it is one of the best examples ever of integrating storytelling and gameplay. Sure, the story itself is relatively simple if you ignore the fact that it's about a dimension-travelling lab technician being manipulated through events by a shadowy puppet master with seemingly complete mastery over time and space, but the proof is in the execution. Listen to doctor Breen's speeches, listen to the bizarre newspeak Overwatch dispaches, look around for the hidden clues as to what's actually going on.

Because seriously, I had to play the game a couple of times to even feel like I'd gotten the full story.

 

[cookyy2k]

Oh and beofre I get flames for stating my opinion let me just say I can't stand CoD either so don't just dismiss me as one of those who you somehow view as below you.

 

[sergnb]

1. This thread again. These damn hipsters have the urge to hate on everything considered good by the game media.

2. It's a sequel. DERPHERP, I DON'T GET THE STORY. Sigh

 

[Yoh3333]

It's funny for me because i am in the EXACT same scenario. I've not played the first one, got it off of the Orangebox though... But i got to the prison level like you.
I agree completely, i stopped there and didn't go back because it was kind of boring, i have yet to notice the amazingness of the series.
I might get around to finishing it. The shooting is actually preety good and the Gravity gun is fun when you find the occasional disembodied sawblade lying around.
1 thing i thought was that the change of environments was very rushed. Start of in a weird transit station which i get. It's understandable. It then goes to some wastelands, i understand this aswell, it's great enviromental story telling of how these badguys are actual bad guys and not just generic. i like that. What i don't like is this: Suddenly we get cut off from our friend and have to go to Ravenholm which just so happens to be a zombie infested town. yay... It felt like some of the combat atleast up till the point i played (prison) was all VERY VERY heavy on the combat. I slew tons of enemies and it got kinda meaningless. Then the occasional boss-like helicopter appeared and i quickly looked for some RPGs and shot it down no problem.

It felt combat heavy, rushed and sometimes rather boring for a game of such praise. I can see myself loveing this game 5 years back but not now. Somewhere i kind of hope Valve leaves HF2 episode 3. They cannot live up to the hype that game will have. It will also ruin their fame of the series so far. That's my prediction atleast.

 

[Jjkaybomb]

I was thinking the same thing. This thing is as shallow as a puddle on a sunny day when it comes to story and motivation and plot. But what it does better than most games that I've played is drop you into a setting and let you play.
You feel for Gordan Freeman because you are Gordan Freeman. The game does not, at any point, take control away from you and say "that is Gordan Freeman, this is the kindve guy he is." You soak into Gordan's skin and never leave. The settings shift smoothly from one to another, and theres hardly a moment where a set peice feels contrived enough to yank you out of it. Well, a couple times. When things drag on for too long. But most of the time the game just sits back and lets you play. Dispite being crazy-go-linear, it feels so much more open and rich than Fallout ever was. for me, at least.

 

[JET1971]

One of the players that cannot find a story unless it shoved down there throat via cutscenes. Suffice it to say if you cant see the story then its not the game for you. the game is loved because of the way the story is done, loved by people that can actualy pay atention to whats going on and can live with something more than cutscene story mode/mindless action kill mode/story mode cutscene/jump maze/another cutscene telling the story/more mindless kill with jump maze/oooh cutscene. some people like having games that do not tell the story in cutscenes with the "game" being filler between that does nothing to flesh out the story.