@OP l2gaemz fgt
wat
Edit: Oh, never mind. I thought you were replying to one of my posts.
i love old graphics, thats why i play some games, new graphics like from hl2 to now are there to put you in the game, but when y play hl1 and that gargantua starts chaseing me… i feel it, i plaid hl1 in mi pentium 1 when i was a kid and graphics for me where mindblowing,
:hmph:
When I decide to play a game, graphics are one of the last things that’ll influence my decision to continue or cease playing. If I don’t complete a game, it’s never because of the graphics.
That said, I think I kind of know how OP feels, with regards to “jumping back in time” with Half-Life. I played Portal first, (it’s what caused me to cave and buy Orange Box, and later to try and figure out what all these nonsensical “Half-Life” shenanigans were about :fffuuu 
but I managed to put off Half-Life 2 and the Episodes until I had gone through the first title. While in the Hazard Course, I couldn’t help but think “dang, I miss the graphics for Portal… :’(” but it didn’t take long for the gameplay to take hold, and I found it very easy to get lost in the world of Half-Life, regardless of the dated graphics. :3
At any rate, I’d urge you not to give up on Half-Life simply because of the graphics. Even though you already know the story, and have gone through HL2 and the Episodes, I think there’s something different about seeing and playing through each room yourself. Also, I definitely think you’ll be able to appreciate Black Mesa more, once it finally comes out, than if you hadn’t played through the original at all. I know I will, at least.
PS: Not sure if you’ve heard about this yet, but there’s a Half-Life Hi-Def Model Pack available from Steam that will give the game a bit of a graphical boost, if you’re interested.
PPS: Welcome to the forums!
@ Muhb
I do not plan to give up on playing Half-Life 1, but I have decided to wait until the Black Mesa mod does come out (If ever 
). Often times, people say that I am attracted to eye-candy when it comes to movies/games. This is why I like playing games, like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and CoD to name a few. The stories are great in all three instances, but playing with high-quality graphics makes the game that much more enjoyable for me. As time goes on, I will continue to love games more and more because of the quality that are being brought to games these days.
I can appreciate a good story without graphics, but only in novels. If I’m playing a game, I want to not just be emerged in a story, but in the game play, too.
I like how people here don’t care about the graphics of a game. You don’t know how many people at my school completely hate a game with anything less than Xbox 360 or PS3 graphics. I find that SO retarded, especially because 2 of my friends said Half Life sucks cause it has “shitty graphics” and that I “suck for playing an old piece of crap”. It annoys the HELL out of me.
Find me a release article that says FEAR had bad graphics? It was a damn fine looking game for it’s time, that’s all I heard and saw.
.
I don’t mind playing games with acceptable graphics, like HL2; however, often times I will prefer to opt for a game with better graphics, as that attracts me to a game. Of course, if the story isn’t great, I just won’t play it since there are plenty of other games with great stories and good graphics, too. I would say HL2 is about as crappy as I will go graphics wise.
Hmm. Well, to each their own, I suppose. As you stated, good graphics alone don’t make a good game. For example, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions was a beautiful example of what the old Xbox was capable of at that time, but the gameplay was sub-par at best.
Personally, I still find myself going back and replaying old games like GTA, Unreal, Red Alert, Warcraft II, Half-Life, etc - I find that I can easily overlook “old-looking” graphics as long as they were fun and the graphics were at least on-par for their time.
EDIT: ooo, just found Unreal2 on Steam! Haven’t played that in years! Played it on a buddy’s pc for a bit and when I tried playing it on my old pc, it was damn slideshow (2fps MAX, but supposedly my specs were well above minimum 
)
“hl2” and “crappy” cant be used together in the same sentence.
I will literally play anything as long as it’s fun and interesting. That said the worse the graphics are the harder it is to get into a game, but the same could be said of a really high end game that runs like shit.
Graphics are a pretty minor consideration for me
Started playing System Shock 2 for the first time recently, it can make me jump far more than many other games that are out now with far superior graphics. And that bit where Shodan appears…
Graphics don’t make a game; gameplay does. Red Alert 2, Half-Life, System Shock 2, Star Trek Bridge Commander, Deus Ex… these are the games on my desktop at the moment, and I get far more enjoyment out of them than some newer games
Besides, if a game is still being enjoyed today despite the graphics it usually means it is something special… and someone somewhere has usually made a graphics mod if you really must
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, graphics alone don’t make or break a game, but saying that they’re unimportant to VIDEO games is like saying that taste is of no importance to eating.
I’m not a graphics whore but I do think that graphics can certainly contribute to the atmosphere of a game. Yes, story and gameplay are just as important, but so are graphics.
These are video games, there is a definite visual aspect to them. I hate it when people say that graphics don’t matter, that’s just as pretentious as saying that graphics are all that matters.
IMO developers would work very hard on making a solid engine with good gameplay and decent story, and then construct graphics around that.
Design is just as important, I don’t like World of Warcraft because I don’t like MMOs in general, but I do like its art style. The graphics aren’t as “good” as those of newer games, but the design more than makes up for this.
BioShock runs on Unreal Engine 2.5, and has adopted Havok physics. :hmph:
The physics still suck though.