I've never played any Half Life games

[Coyote]

Played HL1 and HL2 for the first time a few months ago. I wouldn't recommend either one. (Wrote out a long post going into reasons but it went poof, might rewrite it later.) But if you do play HL1, Heresiarch, two tips that might save you a bit of frustration:

1. Followers can be very buggy, and at some points the only way forward is to bring an NPC to a door to open it for you. If all else fails, resorting to noclip won't mess up the game in any way. The worst issue I had was with a security guy hiding in the top floor of a building near the end of "Surface Tension", a mid-game chapter. He was supposed to open the door to the building you were in (you drop inside from the roof) and then open a door around the corner to the next area. Instead he always froze somewhere before chest-high barricades outside the building despite acting like he was still following when I spoke to him, and even reloading from the start of the chapter (several areas earlier) didn't help.

2. Pressing the crouch key while in the air makes you jump a bit higher. The need for this doesn't come up until nearly halfway through the game in some subway tunnels where soldiers have barricaded a staircase with a box and it isn't strictly necessary to advance until the last chapter or two to the best of my knowledge, so it would be easy to go through the game without ever realizing that the move existed until you get stuck. (Apparently the tutorial tells you about it, but I didn't play it.)

 

[groke]

HL1 was a spectacularly over-rated turd that brought us down the shady path of cinematic-FPS bullshit that left us where we are today. HL2 was in every aspect a terrible modern shooter. Both games are not worth playing. Play Marathon instead.

HL1 has some great mods, though.

 

[iqzulk]

Play Marathon instead.

As a person who actually finished the original (not AlephOne) version of the first Marathon on TC not so long ago, I've gotta say this. Gameplay-wise, Marathon is a fucking abomination (which, BTW, is vastly inferior to Pathways into Darkness in almost every way) that should just fucking die. And as for the story, I didn't find it significantly better than in, say, System Shock 1 (and, as you can remember, SS1 is not exactly a pinnacle of game storytelling in any way). More pretentious (with a ton of red herrings all of which, I'm sure, s7mbolize something, and other intentionally nonsensical hogwash) and occasionally ironically hipsterish (Durandal!) - but certainly not more complex or twisty or whatever (I'm talking about first Marathon only; dunno about the second one though). Also, Jason Jones' levels fucking suck - and I'm pretty sure I'll have a lot of nightmares about that Bob-B-Q level he made, in the years to come. Greg Kirkpatrick's levels were pretty good though (G4 Sunbathing in particular), I'm gonna give it that. Still, I am pretty sure, that I won't fire that game ever again in my entire life - and the very though of that makes me happy like you wouldn't believe.

The second one seems like a better game in many respects (only completed ~1/3 as of this moment - in the beginning of "Durandal" chapter as of right now) but it still retains a LOT of infuriating shit that plagued the original game.

I honestly don't know if I'll do the Infinity after completing M2. On one hand it has the legendary Acme Station which is like ZOMG TEH HARDEST LEVEL EVER from what I gather - and it makes me curious (downside - it's right in the middle of the game, so in order to play it on TC, I'll need to get there first). Moreover, there won't be any of Jones' levels and a lot of Kirkpatrick's, which is awesome. On the other hand, what's the point, especially seeing that I'm playing strictly for the story - and the story in Infinity is pretty famous for being nonsensical pretentious pile of crap even by other two games' standards?

Anyway, giving an advice to play Marathon (of all games) instead of HL is nothing more than a really bad joke, even seeing that HL itself actually aged pretty badly.

P.S. OK, the second Marathon was much better but still way too rough around the edges. It could actually be considered on par with some of the weaker entries in HL series, but I still wouldn't consider it being on par with either HL1, HL2 or HL2ep2. Level layouts were really good (even if too abstract) and varied (and with nice and appropriate enemy variety) and much more entertaining than any of "streamlined" HL layouts ever were though, I'd give it that. And there was a really awesome end bossfight. And the story resolution that was actually really satisfying (even if I have numerous nitpicks about the way the story itself was told). But the combat itself - and the traps! - still drag the whole thing down way too much.

 

[Donny]

That makes 2 of us, never really played them either. They just don't "call me". Not that appealing to me. I've played lots of games that require half life, but not the game itself.
Oh well... not gonna start playing them now anyways.

 

[Grim Monk]

I bought Half Life 2 & EP's 1-2 when it went on flash sale last Friday...

After trying to have fun with it for 2 days I give up.
I made it through about 3/4 of the main game, and I'm not wasting any more of my life on this...

I've just "Deleted Local Content"/Purged It from my PC.


I played Half Life 1 just a few months ago and loved every bit.

What the hell happened here?

 

[CSM]

Play HL1 and HL2 and ignore the expansions. They are all steps down.

Ignore sexbad and definitly play the expansions, except for Blue Shift. Episode One isn't really anything interesting either, but it's short and the setup for the amazing Episode Two.

 

[sexbad?]

Play HL1 and HL2 and ignore the expansions. They are all steps down.

Ignore sexbad and definitly play the expansions, except for Blue Shift. Episode One isn't really anything interesting either, but it's short and the setup for the amazing Episode Two.

episode two is a shorter, worse version of hl2 that copies most of its parent's setpieces. a third of it takes place in a fucking cave too.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I don't get it why people hate on Xen in HL1 when Residue Processing is much MUCH worse in platforming terms.

 

[UserNamer]

half-life 1 was a fun game that used scripted sequences as a context to blowing up all sort of stuff in highly spectacular ways. Today I wouldn't replay it because it's full of boring slogs through concrete AND metal basements.

hl2 was a game that put scripted sequences and the inane plot to the forefront, while dampening the fun in the combat in every possible way, making sure you only enjoyed the gravity gun gimmick. BUT LOOK AT THESE FACIAL ANIMATIONS

 

[DeepOcean]

I bought Half Life 2 & EP's 1-2 when it went on flash sale last Friday...

After trying to have fun with it for 2 days I give up.
I made it through about 3/4 of the main game, and I'm not wasting any more of my life on this...

I've just "Deleted Local Content"/Purged It from my PC.


I played Half Life 1 just a few months ago and loved every bit.

What the hell happened here?

People many times talk that Half Life 2 problems is because Valve somehow put priority on the scripted sequences and plot, no, Half Life 2 is pretty much the same thing as Half life 1. You walk in a corridor, get to an arena, some scripted sequence happen, you shoot alot of people/aliens, solve some easy puzzle then proceed. You can count in just one hand the moments where you had characters doing forced exposition in the entire game. Half Life 2 real problem is that the Combine were a fucking joke, they fall fast,aren't lethal enough and are dumb as bricks. HL 1 had marines that could rape you, alien marines that could rape you, vortigaunts that could rape you pretty fast if you don't know what you are doing. You go from: "Fuck those marines are just bombarding me with rifle grenades before I even have some chance" to "I slaughtered 5 combine soldiers by just quickly blasting them away before they could react."

 

[Jedi Exile]

Play HL1 and HL2 and ignore the expansions. They are all steps down.

Ignore sexbad and definitly play the expansions, except for Blue Shift. Episode One isn't really anything interesting either, but it's short and the setup for the amazing Episode Two.

Play Blue Shift, it is awesome, though very short.

I have the same problem, by the way: I've finished Half-Life multiple times, but still didn't finish Half-Life 2.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS AFTER DOOM ARE STOOPIT!

As for me, I played the 2nd and its "episodes." They're good, and they nail the atmosphere of an eerie inter-dimensional fascist occupation, so there's that. In fact, the atmosphere is probably the reason to play it.

 

[octavius]

Play Blue Shift, it is awesome, though very short.

It's not awesome. It's clearly substandard to the original name, not to mention Opposing Force (which was awesome).

 

[Unkillable Cat]

People many times talk that Half Life 2 problems is because Valve somehow put priority on the scripted sequences and plot, no, Half Life 2 is pretty much the same thing as Half life 1. You walk in a corridor, get to an arena, some scripted sequence happen, you shoot alot of people/aliens, solve some easy puzzle then proceed. You can count in just one hand the moments where you had characters doing forced exposition in the entire game. Half Life 2 real problem is that the Combine were a fucking joke, they fall fast,aren't lethal enough and are dumb as bricks. HL 1 had marines that could rape you, alien marines that could rape you, vortigaunts that could rape you pretty fast if you don't know what you are doing. You go from: "Fuck those marines are just bombarding me with rifle grenades before I even have some chance" to "I slaughtered 5 combine soldiers by just quickly blasting them away before they could react."

That's intentional. HL2 is designed to make the player feel as good about himself as possible. It isn't just the series of events that happens in HL2, but also how characters react to Gordon. It's ALL about the feels.

 

[tuluse]

Most of the guns in HL2 feel weak and boring. They were so proud of the gravity gun they made everything else feel like shit so players would use it and revel in their fancy physics engine.

episode two is a shorter, worse version of hl2 that copies most of its parent's setpieces. a third of it takes place in a fucking cave too.

Doesn't episode 2 have the aliens-eque set piece? I remember that being fun.

 

[Invictus]

I think that FPS are the hardest games to go back to
To truly aprreciate Half Life you really had to have been there to experience all the Doom clones and true popamole corridor jumpers
Half Life was truly a breath of fresh air, with smart thinking AI with soldiers who didn't just stand arround and shoot but actually tried to take cover and use rudimentary tactics
Believe me it is not that remarcable now but back then it was a revelation
While Doom was not the birth of the genre (that goes to wolfenstein) it was really the Half Life games which defined the very concepts of what a modern FPS is
It still holds up very nicely today as long as you where not weaned on moder cover shooter mechanics and you can appreciatre it
I am a bit surprised on how divided are the opinions on the series and would love to read more opinions on the ones who think they are shit on examples of good FPS

 

[DalekFlay]

What the hell happened here?

It would help if you gave at least one reason why you think HL2 is inferior.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I think that FPS are the hardest games to go back to
To truly aprreciate Half Life you really had to have been there to experience all the Doom clones and true popamole corridor jumpers
Half Life was truly a breath of fresh air, with smart thinking AI with soldiers who didn't just stand arround and shoot but actually tried to take cover and use rudimentary tactics
Believe me it is not that remarcable now but back then it was a revelation
While Doom was not the birth of the genre (that goes to wolfenstein) it was really the Half Life games which defined the very concepts of what a modern FPS is
It still holds up very nicely today as long as you where not weaned on moder cover shooter mechanics and you can appreciatre it
I am a bit surprised on how divided are the opinions on the series and would love to read more opinions on the ones who think they are shit on examples of good FPS

Half-Life is just a dumbed down clone of Cybermage: Darklight Awakening.
'FPS genre' started with Hovertank3d, not Wolf3d.

And finally, you are a rambling faggot who acts like an oldfag for brofist harvesting.

 

[octavius]

I think that FPS are the hardest games to go back to

Well, for the old ID and Raven game the sourcecode has been released, and you can play Doom 1, Doom 2, Heretic and Hexen with modern graphics and mouselook, and have more fun than playing modern heavily scripted corridor shooters.
Games like System Shock and Unreal also have been enhanced, to name a few, so in practice I don't think it's a problem.

To truly aprreciate Half Life you really had to have been there to experience all the Doom clones and true popamole corridor jumpers
Half Life was truly a breath of fresh air, with smart thinking AI with soldiers who didn't just stand arround and shoot but actually tried to take cover and use rudimentary tactics
Believe me it is not that remarcable now but back then it was a revelation

Unreal which was released half a year earlier had much smarter enemies in the Skarj and the bots.
What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Half-Life is just a dumbed down clone of Cybermage: Darklight Awakening.

Interesting...I've never played Cybermage, but it's next on my play list after The Terminator: Future Shock, so it will be interesting to compare it with Half-Life.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Fuck you, these events were anything but revolutionary. They were in videogames before, but only THEN marketers spilled out the bullshit about being 'a revolution'.

 

[octavius]

What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Fuck you, these events were anything but revolutionary. They were in videogames before, but only THEN marketers spilled out the bullshit about being 'a revolution'.

I said "more revolutionary" than the AI. Also, I was talking about shooters, not games in general. The ID games hardly had any story, and no scripted events that I can recall, for excample.

In the end I guess Half-Life's success was due to it having both good gameplay (except those tedious jumping puzzles) as well as a story, that appealed to more people.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Fuck you, these events were anything but revolutionary. They were in videogames before, but only THEN marketers spilled out the bullshit about being 'a revolution'.

I said "more revolutionary" than the AI. Also, I was talking about shooters, not games in general. The ID games hardly had any story, and no scripted events that I can recall, for excample.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyberMage:_Darklight_Awakening
This game had storytelling and scripted events similar to Half-Life. And released in late 1995/early 1996. But it was quickly forgotten, and now HL series sit on the throne that belongs to this game.
But hey, I am just a shitposter, you can go back to defending a 'sweet innocent sheep' and ignore my post entirely.

 

[octavius]

What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Fuck you, these events were anything but revolutionary. They were in videogames before, but only THEN marketers spilled out the bullshit about being 'a revolution'.

I said "more revolutionary" than the AI. Also, I was talking about shooters, not games in general. The ID games hardly had any story, and no scripted events that I can recall, for excample.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyberMage:_Darklight_Awakening
This game had storytelling and scripted events similar to Half-Life. And released in late 1995/early 1996. But it was quickly forgotten, and now HL series sit on the throne that belongs to this game.
But hey, I am just a shitposter, you can go back to defending a 'sweet innocent sheep' and ignore my post entirely.

What's with the hostility?
Are you DW Bradley?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

What was more revolutionary about Half-Life was the story telling and all the scripted events.

Fuck you, these events were anything but revolutionary. They were in videogames before, but only THEN marketers spilled out the bullshit about being 'a revolution'.

I said "more revolutionary" than the AI. Also, I was talking about shooters, not games in general. The ID games hardly had any story, and no scripted events that I can recall, for excample.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyberMage:_Darklight_Awakening
This game had storytelling and scripted events similar to Half-Life. And released in late 1995/early 1996. But it was quickly forgotten, and now HL series sit on the throne that belongs to this game.
But hey, I am just a shitposter, you can go back to defending a 'sweet innocent sheep' and ignore my post entirely.

What's with the hostility?
Are you DW Bradley?

I am just sleepy, sorry about that. And no, I am not DW Bradley, I don't work for Monolith Production/Warner Bros, I never worked with Bethesda Softworks or any other western studio, apart from a small studio that released a small game for PS3, but got cockblocked immediately after launch and the game was utter crap, and for numerous reasons, I'd rather not disclose the studio name.

 

[Invictus]

Gee Zwanzig that sounds rough but take it easy man we are just chating up on games
I had actualy seen the adds for cybermage but never played it.
Yes Octavious I know Half Life didn't invent the clock but in my personal experience I was more impressed by human enemy AI acting like actual soldiers rather than the alien hordes of Unreal...it just didn't grab me as much although I do remeber the game beign pretty good
Mmm now that I think about it some more perhaps you are right and the AI wasn't as good as I might remenber but the actual placement of the scripted events might have made me remember it beign pretty cool, like the first time the soldiers droped down in ropes and started looking for you
I wonder if I should replay some Half Life or try Black Mesa? I hated the fact they took Xen out of that one
Oh and for the record I belive the best AI bot ever was in UT 2004 which is kind of sad that it still has better bots thab current games...that is if they have bots at all