Half Life 2, why?
- Thread starter Ara69
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Your title best sums up my reaction to this thread. Half Life 2, why? Why make another one of these threads? Is there honestly anything to add to the discussion?
Huh, I just finished HL2 the other day and found it pretty unsatisfying. Guess I now know better than to talk about it here.
Though since I'm already here, I'll just go ahead and say my biggest problem with the game was how scripted everything felt. It's really obvious that you're locked into exactly one path and one sequence of events. It really doesn't bother me in other games, but HL2 was really trying to pretend that it was "organic".
Though since I'm already here, I'll just go ahead and say my biggest problem with the game was how scripted everything felt. It's really obvious that you're locked into exactly one path and one sequence of events. It really doesn't bother me in other games, but HL2 was really trying to pretend that it was "organic".
I think he meant the charecters were like the person/character. Eli Vance may look similar to Morgan Freeman(funny last name is the same as Gordons but unrelated, and more odd is the first name is very similar) Eli and Morgan are completly different character wise. Morgan Freeman always does the strong leader intelectual type with a very very dry humour. Eli was always a following pseudo scientist/more father character. Morgan Freeman would look bad suggesting Alyx and Gordan could be a good match in HL2. much worse is seeing Morgan freman makeing the mate with my daughter statements in the episodes.THGhost said:
but worse... i saw Eli 2 days ago at Jack in the box eating a burger.
Emmy award winning actor Robert Guillaume. He was winning awards with that acting style while Morgan Freeman was still doing bit parts.Ara69 said:
To adapt my argument from a Halo thread. Half-Life is short on plot, but it does tell a story. Mostly this is told through character design and set dressing. Half-Life builds a world and you can get an idea what sort of lives these people are experienced by searching through areas.
But, yeah, Half-Life's plot is just endless plot complications. The perfect Half-Life spoof would be having a character ask you to go across the room to answer a phone... the room blows up and you spend the next seven hours crawling through sewers, running from marines, battling monsters... before finally getting to the phone and it being a telemarketer.
Not a telemarketer- a creepy guy who talks really weird and breathes heavily into the phone.Netrigan said:
Are people deliberately making new accounts to shit on HL2? Is it getting you closer to your life goals? Did you achieve a lifelong dream or something? Does anonymity make your genitalia grow exponentially with every post?
I loved the hell out off the boat level. In fact, I loved the every moment of Half-Life 1, it's expansions, Half-Life 2 and the episodes.lunncal said:
Half-Life 2 et al. have probably done one of the best collective job in investing me in a universe. They've always been very good at telling a story (and I don't just mean the plot) without huge amounts of dialogue, and Half-Life 2 was absolutely fantastic. I don't care what people say about nostalgia etc, Half-Life is one of the most epic sci-fi properties ever created.
Pay attention to the environment. The beaten up or imposingly rigid structures. The dried up river-beds. The soundtrack. The full implications of what you witness as you travel through this dystopia. It doesn't ram it down your throat, it invites you to witness and emotionally engage.
If you don't like it, that's fine. Just don't irritate us by attacking something you clearly don't understand or appreciate. Even those sensible people who don't particularly like Half-Life would hopefully (surely!) avoid just slagging it off; rather marking it as evidence of a difference in taste rather than as an actively bad game. I don't like World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't call it a bad game, despite actively disliking it (and ,indeed, being bored by it).
And I am fully aware of the irony involved attacking your perceptions, but I'm not the one who submitted them for online debate.
Pay attention to the environment. The beaten up or imposingly rigid structures. The dried up river-beds. The soundtrack. The full implications of what you witness as you travel through this dystopia. It doesn't ram it down your throat, it invites you to witness and emotionally engage.
If you don't like it, that's fine. Just don't irritate us by attacking something you clearly don't understand or appreciate. Even those sensible people who don't particularly like Half-Life would hopefully (surely!) avoid just slagging it off; rather marking it as evidence of a difference in taste rather than as an actively bad game. I don't like World of Warcraft, but I wouldn't call it a bad game, despite actively disliking it (and ,indeed, being bored by it).
And I am fully aware of the irony involved attacking your perceptions, but I'm not the one who submitted them for online debate.
The other day I was listening to the commentary on Portal 2 and when you get to a certain point, they talk about how they wanted to let the player explore the space. Funniest line in the whole gameomegawyrm said:
Apart from being able to walk out on a cat-walk a couple of dozen feet to a dead-end, there was no where to go. And you can probably count on one hand the number of hidden areas you can find. And this is pretty much how Valve has made all its games. Keep an eye out, you'll find every hidden area without trying. Even in larger areas, there's very obviously only one path through it... Half-Life really is the first in a long line of games that lead to the modern FPS experience of very linear gameplay experience.
You know all that stuff that you ignored at the beginning?
It's called atmosphere. VALVe did a really fine job in writing the opening NPC dialogues. Multiple dialogues provide the many pieces of a mosaic that depicts City 17 as a horrifically oppressive place. By the time I had a crowbar in my hand ... uh, metaphorical hand, since you don't really see Gordon's... I was ready and willing to personally kill every single one of the Combine. It's atmosphere and story also give it more replay value than most other rail shooters.
I know, you say its boring. Well I guess I can respect that. You play games to break stuff, and its hard to break stuff when you're in a boat so small that there isn't even a cupholder. You can't even break your flimsy little car or boat by running into concrete objects. How boring is that?
I also like HL2 because I can identify parts of the Half-Life modification "They Hunger" that Valve chose to incorporate into their sequel. "They Hunger" had a lot of cool survivor horror sequences, but also some very annoying puzzle sections where you had to figure out precisely what the developer wanted you to do to proceed. And zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. So when I play HL2, I'm partly playing my memories of 'They Hunger' as well. Sorry if you missed out on that. I'll try to send you a memo next time.
Otherwise, my response to the OP goes like this. Its boring? Stop playing. It cost you 8 Eurobucks? Good! no great loss! Also, the game is 6 years old now. Would you mind terribly much not whining about how a 6 year old game is so "yesterday's news"?? Thank you.
It's called atmosphere. VALVe did a really fine job in writing the opening NPC dialogues. Multiple dialogues provide the many pieces of a mosaic that depicts City 17 as a horrifically oppressive place. By the time I had a crowbar in my hand ... uh, metaphorical hand, since you don't really see Gordon's... I was ready and willing to personally kill every single one of the Combine. It's atmosphere and story also give it more replay value than most other rail shooters.
I know, you say its boring. Well I guess I can respect that. You play games to break stuff, and its hard to break stuff when you're in a boat so small that there isn't even a cupholder. You can't even break your flimsy little car or boat by running into concrete objects. How boring is that?
I also like HL2 because I can identify parts of the Half-Life modification "They Hunger" that Valve chose to incorporate into their sequel. "They Hunger" had a lot of cool survivor horror sequences, but also some very annoying puzzle sections where you had to figure out precisely what the developer wanted you to do to proceed. And zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. So when I play HL2, I'm partly playing my memories of 'They Hunger' as well. Sorry if you missed out on that. I'll try to send you a memo next time.
Otherwise, my response to the OP goes like this. Its boring? Stop playing. It cost you 8 Eurobucks? Good! no great loss! Also, the game is 6 years old now. Would you mind terribly much not whining about how a 6 year old game is so "yesterday's news"?? Thank you.
Because the game sucked in the first place?Xerosch said:
Granted it had its moments (I loved half life one, 2 and its episodes, not so much) but people do get pretty hyped about a game when everyone and their dog on this site puts up half life 2 as a brilliant game.
No, its not. You're either awkwardly standing around while characters talk to eachother examining everything in sight because you're so damn bored. I actually found myself doing a running monologue while listening to the doctor speak to eli before you get into the teleporter "hey look, I can pick this up. I can throw it! Ok, now wha- oh. You're still talking about how this will make it easier for people escape. Cool, lets throw it again".
The set pieces? The best ones were the ones where you were legging it. Aside from that it was a point and click shooter. Even the final assault in episode 2 was a point and click shooter, but it basically had a time limit.
The pacing? Stupid as all hell. I've just shot my way through 15 combines. Why aren't they attacking me while I place these bricks on this ramp? I'm literally just in here. Are you telling me these fearsome invaders can't navigate a ramp?
Pretty much, people hold half life on a pedestal. It doesn't deserve to be up there. Hell, I liked Halo (yes, HALO, what the hell) because at least it didn't pretend you weren't a mute supersoldier who does everything hes told without questioning it. You just were.
Right you are. HL2 and episodes do have (yes) a handful of secret places, but I think they were mostly post-release Steam additions.Netrigan said:
I have gotten into all of the out-of-reach, or not-normally-gameplay-accessible areas in HL2 that were not blocked by an invisible wall. Every single one of them was disappointing. They were either empty, or had crappy loot.