Seriously now...

[Amethyst Wind]

When exactly does the story start on Half Life 1? I'm only playing it so I know what the hell's going on when I crack open HL2 on the Orange Box.

I'm on the "Forget about Freeman" stage and I haven't seen anything to justify the cult status of this game besides the excellent AI involved.

Honestly, this game sucks.

 

[socialtangent]

Half Life was revolutionary for its time period, and that's why it has a "cult status". The likely reason why you think it sucks is probably because it's a relatively old game. It's not going to play like, say, CoD4.

EDIT: In addition, the Half Life series has proven that you do not need to have the storyline spoon-fed to you. Half Life is a game where you have to listen and look around to get an idea of what's going on.

 

[Standby]

*Facepalm*

 

[Xojins]

When exactly does the story start on Half Life 1? I'm only playing it so I know what the hell's going on when I crack open HL2 on the Orange Box.

I'm on the "Forget about Freeman" stage and I haven't seen anything to justify the cult status of this game besides the excellent AI involved.

Honestly, this game sucks.

Half Life is an old game, it's obviously not going to look like games these days. Also some examples of why you think it sucks would be great.

 

[quack35]

Then don't play it, asswipe.

Well said.

I'm reasonably certain this is a troll post.

 

[Nmil-ek]

Then don't play it, asswipe.

Its called an opinion, if you cant bring anything bar fanboy butthurt to a topic dont post you only degrade these forums.

Pwrsonaly I always felt the same way about half life and its sequels baring an impressive physics engine and AI the plot never really sucked me in and the atmosphere was always well meh. By comparison to System shock 2 the series leaves no impression on me like most fps.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

you know you don't ACTUALLY have to play Half Life 1 to understand the story of Half Life 2?

They explain bits of it to recap players. Sooooo yeaah

 

[Hazy]

I must be blind. Somebody kind enough to point me towards the discussion? I'll spot you a fiver

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

So you've hit "Forget About Freeman", huh? So I imagine you heard the radio broadcast, but just in case I'll sum it up anyway.

"FORGET ABOUT FREEMAN! We are cutting our losses and pulling out! Anyone left down there now is on his own! I repeat, if you aren't already, you are now-" *BOOM*

So here's the story so far:

- You are a simple theoretical physicist in a hopped-up spacesuit
- Aliens want to kill you
- The United States Marine Corps wants to kill you
- You are trapped underground with something that is making the United States Marine Corps retreat

If you're expecting the game to spoonfeed you the story with cutscenes and readables, that's not going to happen. Valve have made an art of giving you just enough to go on and letting you fill in the blanks yourself.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Honestly, this game sucks.

Maybe that's because it's a really old game?

 

[ioxles]

I must be blind. Somebody kind enough to point me towards the discussion? I'll spot you a fiver

This guy hasn't played the Hl series before, or so he says. Neither does he know anything about the games (doesn't want the story line spoiled...).

He does not like HL so far so, instead of giving it a chance or say, stop playing it, he has complained about it in an attempt to provoke or elicit some sort of negative response and justification; sometime known as trolling.

Please make the fiver payable through paypal at [email protected], thanks.

 

[Wadders]

*gathers the lynch mob*

It's an old game pal, in 15 years time people will be looking back on the games from today that YOU know and love and telling you they suck, purely because they're not up to whatever standards those people are used to, even though those games were innovators of their time.

Same applies to HL1.

 

[Skeleon]

For its time, it had good (not amazing) graphics, but most importantly a great atmosphere, conveyed through scripted sequences as well as ambient sounds.
The story itself is rather thin (unless you actually look for the clues), but it never was the story which made the game so famous.

 

[Sindre1]

In addition, the Half Life series has proven that you do not need to have the storyline spoon-fed to you. Half Life is a game where you have to listen and look around to get an idea of what's going on.

you know you don't ACTUALLY have to play Half Life 1 to understand the story of Half Life 2?

They explain bits of it to recap players. Sooooo yeaah

QFT!
I have never played HL1 :'(
But I still love 2 ^^

 

[Amethyst Wind]

So you've hit "Forget About Freeman", huh? So I imagine you heard the radio broadcast, but just in case I'll sum it up anyway.

"FORGET ABOUT FREEMAN! We are cutting our losses and pulling out! Anyone left down there now is on his own! I repeat, if you aren't already, you are now-" *BOOM*

So here's the story so far:

- You are a simple theoretical physicist in a hopped-up spacesuit
- Aliens want to kill you
- The United States Marine Corps wants to kill you
- You are trapped underground with something that is making the United States Marine Corps retreat

If you're expecting the game to spoonfeed you the story with cutscenes and readables, that's not going to happen. Valve have made an art of giving you just enough to go on and letting you fill in the blanks yourself.

Amazing how it took up until this post to even make an attempt to answer my original question, and even then the post is laced with borderline insults.

Now allow me to actually address some of the people who've posted on this thread:

The Volume - Go away fanboy.

Socialtangent - You could be right and I could be putting modern-day expectations unfairly on an older game. However, I never mentioned anything about the gameplay of the game since it wasn't important, it's a first-person shooter so the gameplay will be familiar anyway.

Standby - Please standby.

Xojins - I never mentioned anything about the looks of the game, projecting much?

Quack35 - It's not a troll post, I'm actually expressing concerns about a game I've been told is great for 10 years but never had the opportunity to play until now.

Buy teh Haloz - I did consider not bothering playing this as I've been told similar things to what you're saying, but I always feel you'll understand something better if you've gone from start to finish (Mass Effect 2 is a good example, people can start with it and make the plot choices from 1 at the start, but they'll have a better time with it if they've actually played ME1)

xxhazyshadowsxx - I had a hard time finding any discussion amongst the pitchforks and torches too.

The Rogue Wolf - Yeah I did hear that radio message, but considering it's taken this long (barring the opening act) for anything of substance to be revealed (I looked it up, I'm a damn site closer to the end of the game than the beginning) then I strongly disagree with you as to calling Valve's story-telling practices "art". I don't wanna be spoonfed anything, I like challenges in both storyline and gameplay, but there's such a thing as pacing, I don't need cutscenes and readables every 5 minutes, what I need is to see the developers make an effort to keep people interested, and hours of mindless combat without any context is not what I call making an effort.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Gotta say Half Life 2 is prob my favorite game of all time, but I only got HL1 recently and I did find it a little bit of a letdown but only because I think I had too high expectations.

I found a few of the game mechanics a little annoying (such as the many one hit kill moments), but hey it came out a long time ago so yeah the controls arent gonna be as tight as, say... Doom... oh, wait...

Oh and Valve, GAME CONTROLLERS FOR CONSOLES HAVE TOUCH SENSITIVE ANALOGUE STICKS!!!! PLease let us be rid of the PC movement momentum... thanks guys

 

[Andy_Panthro]

I'd much rather replay Half-Life for the nth time than play HL2 for the second time.

I just didn't get the same feeling from HL2 as I did from the first. Black Mesa should be really worthwile I think.

But to go back to the OP, the plot for the majority of the game is survive! Your experiment has gone catastrophically wrong, and you've gotta get out of there. I know it's a bit thin, but it was far more than most shooters of its day (and really, most shooters these days may show more cut-scenes, but the plots tend to be rubbish, it would be better if they cut some plot exposition).

 

[Nouw]

Honestly, this game sucks.

Maybe that's because it's a really old game?

Hmmm.... this is giving me the idea that if a game is old, it sucks regardless. Obviously this is wrong. I'm getting mixed messages.
OTAlthough that last bit was kind of OT anyway) I haven't played the game. Or even seen a trailer, in fact I've only seen the movie that is not a video but in fact an actual movie something called "Escape from the city" or something.Anyway
So basically I think the problem the person is having is that he thinks it lacks telling the player what is going on. Well maybe Valve just gives you clues intead of telling you. Hey if it was me I'd be pissed but I'd go to the walkthrough or the wikipedia for Half-Life for more detail.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Half Life might possibly be overrated.

But to say it's a BAD game is just trolling.

No it's not, shut up unless you know what trolling means. If he actually thinks it sucks then he has a right to say it.

IF on the other hand he's just saying it to aggravate people, which you have no proof of, then it's trolling. But once again. you can't read his mind.

Granted I loved Half-Life but you need to except the flaws with it as well.

 

[lostclause]

Honestly, this game sucks.

Maybe that's because it's a really old game?

I have to object to this one. Just because a game is old doesn't mean it's bad, unless you're a graphics freak in which case go back to crysis. I still enjoy master of orion and it cane out early 90's (and no i didn't like the sequels).