Experienced Half-Life 2 before Half-Life...

Half-Life Series
#1

Who here has done it? I’m sure a lot of people played HL2 before playing HL or HL Source. Which was the more memorable and satisfying experience? What are your comparisons, thoughts, complaints? Do you feel the HL game is important to the HL2 story? You can just answer if you’d like, or continue reading for my thoughts as well…unfortunately I only have the experience of playing HL, countless times (OpFor and BluS as well), while waiting 6 years for HL2.

/slight rant

Finally HL2 arrives and while fun…just didn’t feel like HL, or what I thought a HL sequal should feel like (with regards to story and atmosphere/environments). Now of course I was by no means expecting, or wanting, the same experience, but I was hoping for a game at least as memorable and impacting.

Now, I can’t offer you my own HL2 story, I’m just not creative like that, but I hate the creation and inclusion of the combine. I don’t like the direction the story has gone (alien overlords?) and I also do not find the combine as memorable…I feel the HECU were more satisfying to kill, even though they took way too much damage, were a tad weak, and had “dumber” AI. I also preferred fighting Xen creatures rather than those ant lion creatures (WTF is this starship troopers?). However, the saving graces of HL2, IMHO, are ravenholm and the HL zombies…they definitely got that right. I also felt vehicles only made the game feel larger and I honestly didn’t get much pleasure out of operating any of them…other than occasionally running people over.

IMO, Ravenholm helped with environment variability and had the most impact (included puzzles and platforming IIRC). Something I feel HL was vastly superior with (Anamalous Materials vs. On A Rail vs. Surface Tension vs. Residue Processing vs. Lambda Core vs, Xen etc.). Other than Ravenholm I was in some European-like city, some coastal location, maybe a mine or a prison and I think that’s about it. I remember the Citadel…I thought it was kind of bland.

After I finished HL2, I wanted still wanted the HL experience again. I missed the atmosphere and tension from 6 years earlier. In HL, it felt like I was racing against the clock to save humanity…not so much in HL2: I feel like if Gordon died, some badass rebel might just take his place. After all, anyone can wear an HEV suit.

Even though I only played HL2 a handful of times and each episode once, I do not think HL2 did HL justice. I do think HL2 should have been made (I do like the style and art, gameplay is fun) just not called HL2 and not featuring Gordon Freeman and company.

/ends rant; ducks to avoid flung objects

#2

I played HL2 first and I still consider it the best game of all time. Not that much more to say.

#3

Yea, played hl2 first.

#4

I got the Orange Box three years ago when I got my XBox 360. I didn’t play Half-Life 1 until last year when I got a gaming PC. Actually, I played Portal before I played Half-Life 2.

#5

Someone with the same idea! I was disappointed when I finished HL2, it just felt like every other shooter on the market today. HL1’s atmosphere was different, every area you visited had a different feeling to it and you never quite knew what was around the corner. It was fun to toy around with all the equipment/machinery at black mesa + the huge arsenal you would find. Half life 2 was still great, but when I look back most I remember were endless beaches and concrete building blocks that all looked the same. Anyway it could be nostalgia, who knows what I will say of HL2 in a few years :retard:

#6

I didnt play Half Life 2 before Half Life 1 so I cant realy put my self in your shoes, but in my opinion Half Life 2 was a great step forward from number one and I just found it alot more exciting, especially toward the end when u fight through the “combine nexus” I think it was called, and u eventually make it to the roof and theres a massive battle going on and its just like oh wow awesome. Then u end up in that battle fighting mass amounts of striders, just pure awesomeness. The battle right before u enter the citadel, blew my fucking mind, especially because the first time I did it, the combine gunship that flies over but doesnt actually do anything while ur fighting 2 or 3 striders, decided to stay and try to kill me! fucking epic! and still my best gaming experience. :freeman:

To be honest though i think Black Mesa could top half life 2, since its updated half life 1, especially from what we can see of BM so far, the screen shots are just amazing and so was the trailer.

#7

That probably is one of the most memorable sections from HL2, I do agree that it was badass.

#8

I played half-life first… but i like Half-life 2 because it go more Gman moment.

#9

Exactly the same here

#10

Half-Life 2 > Half-Life
Half-Life 2 has a more interesting story that is backed up by interesting characters.
It has much better graphics/physics and in my opinion it still has the great Half-Life feel to it.
Even though Half-Life was one of my earliest memories of games its sequel is much better.
HL1 is still one of my favourite games however and when Black Mesa is released it will probably become my favourite game again.

#11

I belive it’s called “Overwatch Nexus”.

#12

I bought the HL Collector’s Edition which included HL Source. I started playing HL Source because I did actually think it was a Source remake, but after Anomalous Materials I gave up and played HL2. Only a year later did I give it another try and I finished it. Maybe if I had known about the HD pack at the time I might’ve finished HL Source before HL2.
A year or so later I bought the HL Generations pack (HL1/Op4/BS) to fully appreciate the series.

I’ve been hooked ever since :smiley:

#13

Half-Life was the most amazing gaming experience I ever had.

…until Half-Life 2.

#14

I played HL2 first.

Originally, I found Garry’s Mod through YouTube, and it looked like the funnest thing I’ve ever seen, so I downloaded it, and eventually when I got steam, I bought it with CSS, TF2 and the HL2 Episode pack.

After a while, I then saw HL2 on YouTube, and loved it, bought the Orange Box for the 360, and then later on, Keresh, the lovely Keresh, gifted me HL2 for the PC, so that whe I get my new PC, I can play it on full settings. I also had Portal bought for me the other day.

#15

The first game that had somekind of engine, made by Valve, was Counter-Strike (which sucks today, but was great back in the day) powered by the GoldSRC. After hearing, that there is this huge single-player, i just had to see, when my friend showed me the demo, of Half-Life. It was so awesome, that i nearly had an orgasm. Especially, when fighting the final boss.

But if you actually can’t compare Half-Life and Half-Life 2 between each other. Both are fantastic, but when Black Mesa is coming out, eeh, someone might do a review. Although, it may lack quality, like talented voice-acting, and numerous NPC models, that could be interracted, which were disabled in HL2 :[:[:[ Also i’d like the NPC models to be more colourful and more, like people. Not clones. Im also glad, that they include women in this game too. WINK WINK :wink:

I will hope that this is going to be good. My friend shared the Alpha Beta with me. Actually, it’s just launching HL2 and putting in load _***** to the console. Then it loads all the models, and maps. Too bad it misses: Vortigaunts that attack you, the New zombies, the scientist (Just normal HL2 citizen wearing Science team uniforms and using the HLS lines.) bullsquids and etc. Also it has only one chapter… (Unforseen consequences)

Hope they won’t screw it up, Freeman, out. :freeman:

#16

I detect some incoming hate towards this poster. Mainly because of the general (doesn’t mean it’s good) idea that anyone who uses that many smileys is a noob and must die, and also him saying anything about the very old alpha.

:fffuuu:

Anyways, I’m here to admit, that the first time I played a Valve game, was on the Orange Box, the Xbox 360 version. I had heard a ton of Half Life before hand but never seen anything short of watching a friend play HL2: DM once. Even then, I think I played Portal first. I loved it, and eventually got it on PC. I bought the Orange Box, Oblivion PC (I also had the Xbox version prior to this), and Left 4 Dead all at the same time. I intended only to play mods, but after registering L4D and OB on steam, a new venue to video-games I hadn’t really been exposed to yet, was opened up.

I only bought Half Life because I couldn’t stand waiting for this mod to come out :stuck_out_tongue: . So a year, (since getting somewhere around 70 steam games later (not counting mods), and undoubtedly a couple hundred dollars as well, I’m a major PC gamer and Half Life fan, and I can’t wait to have a way to properly compare Half Life 1 vs 2 without the barriers of graphical differences (ie; Black Mesa, duh). I can only that the mod will be released sometime in spring-fall, but I probably shouldn’t keep my hopes up :[. Anyways, long story short, I played Half Life 2, before EVERYTHING (on PC).

PS:Well, I’m being a bit melodramatic, but mostly everything.

#17

I got the orange box as a gift a few years ago and instantly fell in love with the HL2 games. A few years later I bought the HL1 games. While good the first Half-Life just wasn’t as gripping or memorable as my first experiece with HL2 (a time when my best graphical experience had been some old gameboy games).

#18

that’s because 80’s eastern european architecture is like that

/thread - played HL2 first but i think that it’s better to play hl1 first because of the many references to HL that are made in HL2

#19

So…Sol and I are alone? lol

I will be honest though, I haven’t played HL recently. Not since I played HL Source, once, when it was first released way back when. HL was still kickass of course, it will never not be…but it was like the 'nth time I had played it and I cant remember the last time it was when I really focused on the game. So that initial rant is NOT from some in depth comparison, really from memory. I hope that not playing HL for years, and the release of BM, will help for a fresh comparison.

I already know the stories, so I’m going to reinstall and play HL2 again, first, before BM is released (2010 lets hope). I’ve only played HL2 a couple of times and it’s been awhile, so I am very interested in comparing it to BM (which should be able to replace HL).

A little off topic, but maybe I’m losing interest in FPS. Deus Ex and STALKER: SOC and COP were great games…favorite FPSs since HL. Mainly because they are FPS at their core, with the addition of RPG elements (I do not play RPGs tho). Borderlands was fun for a while, but that got boring. I think the main probably is that most stories for shooters suck. Even though I dislike the whole combine thing, the HL series still has the best FPS story hands down. IMO, Stalker being second, Deus Ex being third, DOOM being fourth, etc.

I’m sure the Black Mesa Facility is just like every other top secret underground, government test facility lol. I feel that even though it is taking place in Europe, the environments don’t need to feel so repetitive. Oh, and why did you say 80’s? Are we supposed to know what year HL2 is taking place in?

#20

The thing I love about Half-Life games is that with each sequel, they improve the game’s pace and strategy and it’s funner, in my opinion.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.