HL: overrated or not, aka. HL3 the savior or a failure?

[Problematic_A-hole]

Half Life is a game that won’t give you much explanation, it’s up to the player to make theories and guesses about what is going on

/off topic, I don’t like making fun of mentally disable people, I just like making fun of you, Dotard

[Dotard]

@Problematic A-hole

Half Life is a game that won’t give you much explanation, it’s up to the player to make theories and guesses about what is going on

/off topic, I don’t like making fun of mentally disable people, I just like you, Dotard

yay :3 that means I’m clean, and I like you too man, enjoy the annoying holiday songs and for a decade repetitive TV program :jizz:

[xalener]

Lo and behold, the grammar suddenly falls to rubble.

[JohnWorfin]

@Dotard

Remove the Terminator subplot, do not introduce characters out of nowhere, explain things, done :3
Hopefully HL3 doesn’t start on a train or any other rail vehicle, flying through some space-time continuum/universe or what shit this time.

Seriously, if I told you before the HL2 announcement:
That the game is set circa 1x-20 years later after Gordon’s interdimensional stasis, and you fight cyborgs controlled by your ex-boss from Black Mesa, who is in turn controlled by starship trooper brain bugs, which did in fact enslave Nihilanth from the first game, who had control over Vortigaunts, them being suddenly your allies for “freeing” them (aka. slaughter) and that it’s set in a post-apocalyptic Eastern European city… would you believe me?

Expected reaction to such statement (being sadly true) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dljqjo90j4s&t=1m26s

Luckily, the whole Matrix subplot “Manhack Arcade” was scrapped.
So there you go;

see previous Adult comment
But seriously, you are ignoring how innovative the plot devices were in 2004 when the game was released. No game had ever told a story that way before. No cut scenes, no text overlay and no bullshit narrator. POV like no one has ever done before. That is why it still holds up, even today 8 years after it was released. And the manhack arcade would have been AWESOME, but they removed the kids for ratings purposes

[Pyroclase]

No, the Manhack arcade wasn’t only for kids, actually; the kids were all working in factories, IIRC. They cut it for other reasons.

[xalener]

@JohnWorfin

see previous Adult comment
But seriously, you are ignoring how innovative the plot devices were in 2004 when the game was released. No game had ever told a story that way before. No cut scenes, no text overlay and no bullshit narrator. POV like no one has ever done before. That is why it still holds up, even today 8 years after it was released. And the manhack arcade would have been AWESOME, but they removed the kids for ratings purposes

He’s ignoring a lot of counter arguments. In fact, he’s pretty much ignored all of them. I just haven’t called him out on it because he’ll latch onto whatever the retort was as an immature attack allowing him another excuse to slip through an argument.

@Jethro via facebook

“do not introduce characters out of nowhere”

lol

must be birthed from existing characters onscreen

I lost

[Dotard]

“must be birthed from existing characters onscreen”

haha, made my day :lol:

[xalener]

Seriously though, how the fuck are new characters supposed to be introduced early on in a story that isn’t sudden?

[Dotard]

@xalener

Seriously though, how the fuck are new characters supposed to be introduced early on in a story that isn’t sudden?

Without a time paradox Good stories are thought of beforehand to maintain continuity, this isn’t the case, it’s basically random stuff that comes to their minds pasted there to fill holes from previous random stuff.
HL1 wasn’t made with a sequel in mind, was it?
You might have misunderstood my statement about characters, refer to what I wrote earlier, when HL1 released, all those characters didn’t exist, yet suddenly with HL2, they did exist in HL1.
I know it sounds like bitching and nitpicking and all, but Valve should have remade HL1, community had to do it instead, but still, BM team ain’t Valve, so other than 10 second appearances of Eli and Isaac, it added little to nothing in terms of story.

What I fear with HL3 is, that more retcons are coming. Yes, it might sound like I never was a fan to begin with and that I’m a hater or something now, but that’s only because I want what I consider beneficial for my favorite series.
But well, I’m off, that’s all there’s to say about it.
Maybe I’m too much of a critic tho, but others are biased towards it due to their rose-tinted glasses.

Criticism is important as not seeing flaws halts any possible improvement.

[Problematic_A-hole]

I don’t get why you hate retcons so much

[Pyroclase]

Are you seriously implying that remaking an entire work simply so you don’t have to retcon it is in any way a good idea?

[k3nny1550]

A core strength of the HL series is that it’s not bogged down in expospeak. Half the atmosphere of the game is created by throwing you into the unfamiliar on purpose. HL2 shows a lot of it’s back story, rather than telling. (Annoyingly enough, the beta of the story included a SLIDESHOW to explain everything. Tell me how that would be better, PLEASE.)

Anyway, I’ll let part of a review of the game I posted tell you why precisely the game is good:

Half-Life 2 is a master-class in minimalistic storytelling. There are no cutscenes that pull you away from the action- the entire game is experienced through Gordon’s eyes at all times. To many developers this may seem like an unnecessary constraint, as story development is limited purely to what the player can see and hear. But Valve worked within these limits with an incredible degree of intelligence, and the overall experience of Combine-controlled Earth is at once startlingly realistic and subtle in its desperate climate. The coastline outside city limits is positively chilling- the water has receded a great deal, as dockyards and old ships lie rusting on the shore. The canal water ranges in quality from muddy to radioactive, and seawater is infested with parasitic leeches. A man in the opening train station rants quietly to himself about the mysterious goings-on in the train system as the Civil Protection officers beat a man for trying to move his own luggage. The Combine-built walls gradually “eat” the old city by moving about and tearing down the antiquated Russian architecture. Nova Prospkt’s empty prison walls play host to Combine medical experiments and the indoctrination of new soldiers. All of these elements combine to create an atmosphere that feels familiar and yet threatening; Earthly but alien.

Despite the heady atmosphere, Half-Life 2 at its core is an evolution of classic first-person shooter gameplay. Freeman has two health meters- his actual “HEALTH” and the Hazardous Environment Suit (HEV)’s “SUIT” battery. The suit helps Gordon soak up damage from small arms and explosions, and as long as the player can find health packs, batteries, and/or chargers for both meters, the player is relatively safe in exploring the game’s linear level layouts. The difficulty curve is practically invisible, and the player is given assistance with the controls as they play- for instance, in the opening sequence when the player must escape a Combine interrogation room, the interface is utilized to instruct the player to use the “use” key to stack boxes. Gordon must survive by his wits and his acquisition of an arsenal of weapons given to him by allies and looted from the corpses of his enemies. The arsenal at first glance is rather limited, consisting of only a few types of guns and explosives, but what really sets Half-Life 2 apart is the Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator, known to the player as the “Gravity Gun.” The Gravity Gun allows the player to pick up virtually any physically enabled object and either throw it or set it somewhere. The gun feels fantastic- the punting feature sends objects flying downrange with a satisfying kick to the view, and objects can be pulled over and grabbed from a fairly long range. Players can use the gun in a variety of offensive and defensive situations, as anything from an impromptu grenade launcher to a bullet shield. The weapon lends itself to a variety of play-styles which sets it apart from just about any weapon in any game before or since.

The game’s arsenal will certainly come in handy, as the player is up against a wide variety of opposition throughout the game. The city metropolice and Combine regular soldiers are the primary opposition, leveraging many of the game’s weapons at a variety of ranges. Snipers take positions in high windows, keeping a stern watch and a high powered rifle trained on nearby enemies. Police units carry portable flying sawblade robots called “Manhacks” that fly in swarms. The Combine’s military might also allows them to send a variety of ground and aerial vehicles into combat- dropships can rapidly mobilize a squad of eight soldiers into action at a moment’s notice, gunships can rain down death from above with their heavy cannons, helicopters can both spray bullets and drop mines on the player in the game’s “Water Hazard” chapter, and Combine APCs can fire long range missiles at opponents. Additionally, the Combine utilize alien fauna as biological weapons, firing canisters of headcrabs (the game’s equivalent to the Alien film’s “facehugger”), which take over human hosts and walk about as zombies. On the coast, massive flying bugs dubbed “Antlions” rule the sands, mercilessly perusing any player who trespasses on their territory.

Despite the relentless pace of the combat encounters, Half-Life 2 knows when to let the player branch out a bit. Hidden throughout the game are “Lambda Caches,” areas where resistance members have stashed supplies. With proper resource management and careful aim, players can expect a phenomenally well balanced 12 hour experience, adjustable to three difficulties. The difficulty setting sadly doesn’t change the AI to any substantial degree; it merely modifies player and enemy damage settings. By modern standards, the AI can also feel rather stupid at times- Combine soldiers may sometimes leave perfectly good cover to pressure the player by rushing, and a well known exploit locks the soldier in melee animations while the player can chip away at their health from point blank range, but overall the AI manages to do quite well at using team tactics against the player.

Overall, Half-Life 2 earned 30+ game of the year awards for a reason- the fantastic art design, smart programming, and intelligent writing combine for a uniquely enthralling experience. Simply put, this game is not to be missed. Anyone even remotely interested in game design should pick up Half-Life 2 and its Episodes, as Valve has updated the game with commentary nodes, allowing for a look “behind the scenes” in-game that is exhaustive in its detailed analysis of some aspects of the level design and the programming that went into them.

Well, that’s less a part and more like 2/3rds of the review, but yeah.

[Bloodshot]

Nice excerpt.

Also add me to the list of people who have become ill from reading Dotard’s posts.

[Dotard]

I don’t disagree with the review, but other than the AI, it mentions only the good aspects of it, barely any negatives. It’s a short review tho, so understandable. Would take many paragraphs to detail it all.

Also guys, I hope it’s not cancer :fffuuu: don’t scare me, I won’t be able to forgive myself if my opinion takes you down.

[xalener]

It’s not your opinion, it’s the way you present it and your inability to properly defend it.

[JohnWorfin]

/\THIS/\

[warpedfreeman]

Half-Life was made without a sequel in mind just with an open ending, then was the HL2 leak, yet Valve manage to make it trought that development hell. I think its the same with HL3, they will find a way to to do great game.

[Dotard]

@warpedfreeman

Half-Life was made without a sequel in mind just with an open ending, then was the HL2 leak, yet Valve manage to make it trought that development hell. I think its the same with HL3, they will find a way to to do great game.

I don’t think the leak had any negative effect on the development, actually it made the game better than it would have been… it was lots and lots of mess before it occurred, with the game nowhere near done, and no settled direction. HL2 was basically 3 big games merged together, in the end, they had to stick just with 1, and here we go. I miss Combine Assassins tho dat ass :jizz:

[Pyroclase]

No, it wasn’t three big games merged. It was a bunch of discrete concepts, most of which were dropped. A lot of them were just different version of the same thing, like city 17.

[Boundaryman]

What’s this Terminator subplot complaint I’m hearing about? There is no character resembling the Terminator in HL2. Unless it’s being argued that Dog is one, but he’s not Uber-Austrian enough.

I don’t have a problem with the concept of HL2. Some dialogue and characterizations I find a little dumb. Judith Mossman’s motivation as a double-agent is confusing, and so is her secret resentment. Why does she think she could do better than Gordon did in the test chamber? Would she have not pushed the crystal into the beam? I’ve tried that, and all that Gordon gets from hesitating in the first HL is incessant and unending complaints by the the old scientists: “Push it in, Gordon!” I also don’t buy her line: “Sorry, Alyx. It’s the only way!” For a supreme intellectual competitor of Gordon’s, she doesn’t seem very smart. So, she secretly deals with an Orwellian government created by Border World aliens and the stuck up Administrator of Black Mesa just to keep Eli’s research going? I almost feel like quoting the adulterous French cafe owner from 'Allo 'Allo: “You stupid woman!” I liked how her character was integrated into the game, but I would have like additional development to her character, and to hear more from Judith herself as to why she was so pissed at Gordon.

And then there’s Breen, who on his telescreens in the Citadel, accuses Gordon of channeling repressed childhood violent instincts, and of being destructive rather than creative. I felt like he was referring to a different man. When he says “Can you think of one thing” which Gordon created, I was going to list Gordon’s theses and scientific discoveries, only to get a “I thought not.” Where the hell is Breen getting all this stuff about Gordon? Gordon was just a science graduate who was forced to be violent in order to survive. Breen doesn’t take it all into account. He lamely asks Gordon “Is-it- worth-it?,” as if those words were enough to make Gordon feel guilty. He speaks to Gordon as if Gordon were Kain on the verge of destroying Nosgoth’s pillars. Although, to be fair, Breen is a self-important twirp anyway.

I just hope that if Breen is still alive, he’ll appear as a Xenian mutated boss fight for me to pummel. Imagine a larger version of Dr. Breen, whose bodily features are a cross between a SiN mutant, a Resident Evil ambomination, and the Nihilinth, and still keeping his beard and dweeby smile. I know that it’s not confirmed that he is still alive: that’s just the ideal boss fight I want with him.