Half Life 2, why?
- Thread starter Ara69
- Start date
Same. Bought orange box for portal and thought I'd give it a go with all the hype and such, pushed through 4 and a half hours of it thinking for the hype it's got to get good eventually. Then just gave up because those 4 and a bit hours were so boring, I was pushing and hoping for it to get good but I resigned to the fact it wouldn't and started to wonder where all the hype came from.Yoh3333 said:
Complex motivations, mysterious goals, tenuous ally? Enemy of my emeny?Snowalker said:
Sounds pretty awesome to me. Hes not Killzones boring Hitler clone villains if thats what your into. I guess.
as someone who posted pretty much the same thread, except about kotor, i can tell you that you will probably be labeled a troll and you probably will get very few, if any, straight answers.Ara69 said:
i loved half life 2 but i would almost consider it as much an adventure game as it is a first person shooter. it does pull you out of the game by having cutscenes and thats either a love it or hate it sort of thing, i guess. point is that if you are expecting an action packed shooter like the ones being churned out constantly these days, you may want to look elsewhere. and yes, you do need to play the first one in order to understand the story and characters
"No Talking" you mean Gordon doesn't talk, there's lots of dialogue in the game. And it does it's very best to set a mood of isolation, so that you feel genuinly happy to bump into an npc and get caught up on off-panel (screen) events. You missed this.Ara69 said:
"No Story" It's invasion 101 dude, like seriously, don't take this the wrong way, but the NUMBER 1 reason i love VALVe is that they make games for the fans - primarily - for the fans. You're not a fan of the franchise as a whole, you didn't play any of the first games and you don't know anything about the 'verse it's set in. To bad for you , you're missing out on a great experience in gaming here. So, don't continue the game, it's a waste of your time, you didnt get what all the fuss was about, im not gonna hate on you for that..i'll just..ya know, point and laugh from a safe distance.
"Dull shooting" you mean there's no ADS and auto lock-on eh? go play more Halo and CoD kthx. Half-Life series are games for the [geek=true], you know they're not "for you" if you A) are under 21 and have hardly heard of the franchise B) Played any shooter with Aim Down Sights BEFORE playing HF2 - thus are turned away by the lack of assists. And finally C) Bought HL2 EXPECTING a frag-fest and attempted to play the game with people in the room talking to you and not isolated in your room where you could follow the story and get imnmersed. This is one of the games that really requires some alone time, unlike say CoD.
You know you're starting to get old when people criticize a game you were awed by as a teenager for lack of innovation, story, narrative and even gameplay.
Ara69 said:
Hardly.
The game WAS made in 2004, though. That's seven, SEVEN years ago. You'll hardly get the story if you haven't played the first game. I'm surprised you didn't find it atmospheric, though.
Story wise, Half Life just throws around fake science like a chimpanzee with its hand up its ass and idiots like to go "oooh thats such a cool story".
Gameplay wise, it has horrible gunplay, the physics engine is treated like the end all be all of video gaming since there is a physics based puzzle every ten feet, vehicles sections are unbearably bad, and the "interactive" cutscenes are nothing more than dropping you into a play pen while people talk at you regardless of if you are listening or throwing boxes around 20 feet away.
Gameplay wise, it has horrible gunplay, the physics engine is treated like the end all be all of video gaming since there is a physics based puzzle every ten feet, vehicles sections are unbearably bad, and the "interactive" cutscenes are nothing more than dropping you into a play pen while people talk at you regardless of if you are listening or throwing boxes around 20 feet away.
As a question to those that didn't like HL2 when it was new, what fps'es that existed up untill that point did you like, and why?
Here's what i liked about HL2:
It had very good pacing, it had great diversity in it's environments without pulling you out of the action via cutscenes every 20 minutes, the gravity gun, the ant-lion section, the integration of physics into puzzles, the incredibly realistic faces (for that time), the upgraded gravity gun and the way the story was told through the world.
I didn't like the ending (gameplay wise, i want my final boss, those gunships don't count), and i would've liked maybe one more sci/fi/alien weapon.
Here's what i liked about HL2:
It had very good pacing, it had great diversity in it's environments without pulling you out of the action via cutscenes every 20 minutes, the gravity gun, the ant-lion section, the integration of physics into puzzles, the incredibly realistic faces (for that time), the upgraded gravity gun and the way the story was told through the world.
I didn't like the ending (gameplay wise, i want my final boss, those gunships don't count), and i would've liked maybe one more sci/fi/alien weapon.
Seriously, did you not pay any attention to what kind of a world was being presented to you?
I thought and still think that HL2 had easily one of the best introduction sequences I've ever seen in a game! It shows you in quite a lot of detail what the world is like in this game and introduces you to the characters from the first part pretty much from scratch, since the HL1 characters were not really THAT recognizable (except for Dr. Kleiner, if it weren't the case that half the Black Mesa staff looked exactly like him!)
You did notice that a species from another dimension has taken over earth and have formed a highly-controlled, oppressive regime and are degrading and slowly wiping out the human race, though, did you? I'll leave figuring out what it is in this world that Gordon Freeman is fighting against to you...
OT: The part when humanity starts to rise up against the combine and you fight the Striders and all was pretty awesome! And at the time it was literally awe-inspiring! The action sequences were revolutionary (the Striders blew buildings to shreds! I had never seen anything like that in a game before that!), although today they of course do pale in comparison with games like CoD or Crysis, but especially CoD doesn't even know the word pacing. Especially the newer parts are just a constant adrenaline-fest, which have not a single moment for you to catch your breath, except for the moments when you hide out behind some barricades to regenerate your health!
I thought and still think that HL2 had easily one of the best introduction sequences I've ever seen in a game! It shows you in quite a lot of detail what the world is like in this game and introduces you to the characters from the first part pretty much from scratch, since the HL1 characters were not really THAT recognizable (except for Dr. Kleiner, if it weren't the case that half the Black Mesa staff looked exactly like him!)
You did notice that a species from another dimension has taken over earth and have formed a highly-controlled, oppressive regime and are degrading and slowly wiping out the human race, though, did you? I'll leave figuring out what it is in this world that Gordon Freeman is fighting against to you...
OT: The part when humanity starts to rise up against the combine and you fight the Striders and all was pretty awesome! And at the time it was literally awe-inspiring! The action sequences were revolutionary (the Striders blew buildings to shreds! I had never seen anything like that in a game before that!), although today they of course do pale in comparison with games like CoD or Crysis, but especially CoD doesn't even know the word pacing. Especially the newer parts are just a constant adrenaline-fest, which have not a single moment for you to catch your breath, except for the moments when you hide out behind some barricades to regenerate your health!
Perfect dark; great graphics for it's time, well thought out and varied game play, a nice mix of stelth and action.ManOwaRrior said:
Also a great multiplayer, with sims which you don't see much nowendays. Brilliant pre-setup challenges. Target range with a variety of goals for each gun as you unlocked them in single player mode. Each level having it's own set of goals depending on difficulty.
I thought this may have been a rose tinted youth experience so I downloaded it on XBLA, still amazing. I know there have been a ton of advances since it came out in 2000 but it still stands up on it's own merits, even against a lot of modern FPSs.
Since we're now talking about Shooters we loved before HL2, I'm thinking of the first Hitman game, which also happens to have a pretty great introduction sequence and puts you right in the story. It was also very thrilling, sneaking up to a guard and strangling him with a piano string still works for me today! (But psst: I hear the graphics totally suck by today's standards!)
i got half live 2 with the orangje box. and i must say
YES
a great game. although i diden't understood everything about the story it still had that appeal. the "escape" at the start realy gripped me. if it diden't for you then i am afraid this game isn't meant for you.
YES
a great game. although i diden't understood everything about the story it still had that appeal. the "escape" at the start realy gripped me. if it diden't for you then i am afraid this game isn't meant for you.
I don't think it is really the story itself that is amazing, but rather how engaging the world is in itself, they weave exposition into the world and characters, rather than cutscenes, so it was very immersive for its time, and it was amazing from a technical standpoint, it looked great. Also the fact that control is never really taken away from you makes you feel part of the world around you.
The pacing and level design also make this a brilliant game, it flows really well from one section to another. The gameplay is also solid as a shooter (for 2004 standards), the combination of puzzle solving and straight up combat made it so the game never felt bland because it was constantly being mixed up to prevent 'combat fatigue' (when you get bored of fighting because you have been doing it non stop for to long).
The downsides were that the story as a whole was average, the first half felt kinda unstructured or unfocused, but overall it was passable (for me at least). Plus the game was way to easy on the highest difficulty for shooter veterans, especially if you came from playing a game like Far Cry (released earlier that year)
Anyway, this is just my opinion, I can see why people wouldn't like it by todays standards, it hasn't aged that well when compared to many of the shooters we have today.
The pacing and level design also make this a brilliant game, it flows really well from one section to another. The gameplay is also solid as a shooter (for 2004 standards), the combination of puzzle solving and straight up combat made it so the game never felt bland because it was constantly being mixed up to prevent 'combat fatigue' (when you get bored of fighting because you have been doing it non stop for to long).
The downsides were that the story as a whole was average, the first half felt kinda unstructured or unfocused, but overall it was passable (for me at least). Plus the game was way to easy on the highest difficulty for shooter veterans, especially if you came from playing a game like Far Cry (released earlier that year)
Anyway, this is just my opinion, I can see why people wouldn't like it by todays standards, it hasn't aged that well when compared to many of the shooters we have today.
bombadilillo said:
I wasn't saying I didn't like the character or thought he was boring, no I think he's probably one of the most interesting characters in gaming, yet, I don't, hell, I can't believe he's a bad guy. Conversely, can't really feel he's a good guy either. I'm simply curious as to why everyone is so certain he is evil, and I said he's mysterious... I'm sure where either of you were going with your posts, but it definitely didn't answer my question... Why is the general opinion that he's evil?ciortas1 said:
Edit: I think the bad guys are the combine, and in the first game, the vortigaunts.. just saying.