Half-Life's story

[Mr. Moose]

I have a friend who thinks Half Life has an AMAZING story, and that its ORIGINAL.

I don't think it is.
All I see is a generic shooter involving alien species that take control over our planet and use high ranked humans as negotiators, and it's up to Generic Super Science Man to save the day.

Whats so special about Half Life's story?

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I think it's the pacing of the game, with the puzzles thrown in that eludes gamers into thinking it's new.

 

[xitel]

I never payed attention to the Original Half Life story, so I couldn't tell you. All I know is that something happened and it was bad things.

 

[Dr. Crowbar]

Half-life's story is pretty crap actually. Thing blows up, aliens attack, man in glasses beats the shit out of them with a crowbar...

 

[CoverYourHead]

I actually care about the story in a FPS, that makes it original enough for me.

 

[Art Axiv]

The innovative thing in HL2 was ... the fact of it being a sequel to HL2.

 

[curlycrouton]

I have a friend who thinks Half Life has an AMAZING story, and that its ORIGINAL.

I don't think it is.
All I see is a generic shooter involving alien species that take control over our planet and use high ranked humans as negotiators, and it's up to Generic Super Science Man to save the day.

Whats so special about Half Life's story?

That could be applied to anything though. Take, say, The Matrix:

This guy like finds out he's in a fake world which is run by machines and he's The One who can save them and he does, but sacrifices himself as well. He also fights lots of baddies.
OMG ITS SO GENERICK!!1

See?

 

[Danny Ocean]

Prepare for unforeseen consequences...

That's what keeps us hooked. Gooo G-man!

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

In Halflifes case it is not WHAT is told, rather it is HOW it is told. It's got a very compelling presentation and in many cases that can make a better story than some sort of convoluted plot. Other than that this breaks it down brilliantly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8

 

[Meatstorm]

Prepare for unforeseen consequences...

That's what keeps us hooked. Gooo G-man!

indeed

 

[Rushin]

I didn't like the original's story I prefer HL2 but it isn't just a super soldier killing aliens, it's about a MIT graduate scientist who fights back against an oppressive government and the mysterious people who try to benefit from it. Also The atmosphere and immersion make you a fan not just the story.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I have a friend who thinks Half Life has an AMAZING story, and that its ORIGINAL.

I don't think it is.
All I see is a generic shooter involving alien species that take control over our planet and use high ranked humans as negotiators, and it's up to Generic Super Science Man to save the day.

Whats so special about Half Life's story?

That could be applied to anything though. Take, say, The Matrix:

This guy like finds out he's in a fake world which is run by machines and he's The One who can save them and he does, but sacrifices himself as well. He also fights lots of baddies.
OMG ITS SO GENERICK!!1

See?

Children of Men was pathetic!
Some dolt gets convinced by his divorced wife that he needs to help some pregnant lady in the world that has been sterile for 20 years. He saves her eluding the grasp of the totaltarian government and dies in the end.

You're right.

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

I have a friend who thinks Half Life has an AMAZING story, and that its ORIGINAL.

I don't think it is.
All I see is a generic shooter involving alien species that take control over our planet and use high ranked humans as negotiators, and it's up to Generic Super Science Man to save the day.

Whats so special about Half Life's story?

It was much more than that. But remember the first game was long ago, before the alien game craze.

 

[-Seraph-]

In Halflifes case it is not WHAT is told, rather it is HOW it is told. It's got a very compelling presentation. Other than that this breaks it down brilliantly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8

Thank you for making my day.

 

[willer357]

Well, the original half life was in 1999, so you can pretty much guess it involves some big, underground complex where something goes wrong and aliens attack, but with HL2 it's not the story line, it's how they present it in an awesome new manner, with great pacing, and yes, it is one of my favorite games, in fact, the first game I played was sven co-op, a mod for half life, so yes I am biased.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

In Halflifes case it is not WHAT is told, rather it is HOW it is told. It's got a very compelling presentation. Other than that this breaks it down brilliantly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8

Pretty much. Half-life is a generic FPS sci-fi story told well. The story in itself is nothing special, but its brilliantly prented, in such a way that your always anxiouse about what will happen next. The scripted events are a stroke of genious

I know I can't wait until Eps3, not for the gameplay (though that is fun). I'm just wondering how this will all end (if it does)

 

[Baby Tea]

I have a friend who thinks Half Life has an AMAZING story, and that its ORIGINAL.

I don't think it is.
All I see is a generic shooter involving alien species that take control over our planet and use high ranked humans as negotiators, and it's up to Generic Super Science Man to save the day.

Whats so special about Half Life's story?

That could be applied to anything though. Take, say, The Matrix:

This guy like finds out he's in a fake world which is run by machines and he's The One who can save them and he does, but sacrifices himself as well. He also fights lots of baddies.
OMG ITS SO GENERICK!!1

See?

Yeah I agree. I don't think the story itself was meant to be super original and awesome. But the way it was presented with it's scripted events, and the complete lack of backstory for Gordon freeman, Black Mesa, the G-man (Heck there is virtually NO story for him), and the Xen world keeps the player guessing.

Most FPS stories you've got figured out pretty quick. But Half-Life has so many, intentional, questions that have yet to be answered. Who is the Gman? Why was Gordon chosen to do this work? What to the Combine/Xen aliens want? And, given the cliff-hanging endings of every single game/episode: What will happen next?

That is what makes it interesting and good. Well, to me at least.

EDIT:

In Halflifes case it is not WHAT is told, rather it is HOW it is told. It's got a very compelling presentation and in many cases that can make a better story than some sort of convoluted plot.

Augh! Pedro beat me to it!

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

More goes into a story than simply "What" happens and "Why" it happens, when you break it down into the bare bones of "What" and "Why" most stories simply fall into Joseph Campbells "Monomyth" archetype in one way or another.

Great stories need to master the Who, Where and How of storytelling as well. Personally I feel that Halflife does a brillaint job with the Where and How, though it, like most games, could really work on the "Who" since there are what? 4 Characters in the entire game with any decent dialogue?

 

[stevetastic]

Half-life's story is pretty crap actually. Thing blows up, aliens attack, man in glasses beats the shit out of them with a crowbar...

To be honest mate, you can do that with any story,
the godfather: Men sit around and talk for two hours, then some people get killed.
Brokeback mountain: Two coyboys talk for several hours, then you see some scenery.
Scarface: Al Pacino starts poor, gets rich, dies.

 

[implodingMan]

A story's worth is not measured in the amount of "things" that happen in it, but in the way that the events of the story affect the characters and how those characters and their flaws drive the plot forward.

Think of the generic "best thing ever written". Usually people will point to Hamlet. Personally I liked King Lear more, but I'll run with Hamlet. You could summarize Hamlet's story pretty quickly as "Hamlet plots to kill Claudius to avenge his father's death, and is killed in carrying out his plan". This is a bare bones way of looking at a story, however, since it does not address the how Hamlet's flaws pushed the plot forward.

I think that the reason that Half-Life's story is unsatisfying is because Gordon Freeman himself is replaceable. You could take any badass super scientist and replace him and the story would act out the same way every time. The fact that the protagonist does not affect the plot in any way is just dissatisfying. He has no character and no flaws. In a game like GTA4 the story is compelling not because it is all that original, but because of the well defined characters and how their actions move the plot forward. If you switched the places of Niko and Roman, with Niko coming to America first then the story would be completely different.

That is why I think Half-Life's story is unsatisfying.