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Post by The Anarch on Aug 17, 2013 19:49:41 GMT
I wish I had skipped the original Half Life.
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Post by tarodar on Aug 17, 2013 20:09:33 GMT
I wish I had skipped the original Half Life. That's going to need an explanation |
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Post by The Anarch on Aug 17, 2013 21:11:33 GMT
I wish I had skipped the original Half Life. That's going to need an explanation Is it? It's pretty simple . . . I don't think it's a very good game. In fact, I think it's a pretty terrible game. I managed to push myself into finishing it, mostly because it's one of those historic big-games-what-done-changed-everything and I'm a sucker for nerd cred, but I kinda wish I hadn't because the entire experience was just a chore, especially the ending. |
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Post by tarodar on Aug 17, 2013 22:06:39 GMT
I'm guessing you first played it somewhat recently?
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Post by Marnath on Aug 17, 2013 22:47:11 GMT
Talking about crazy I only recently acquired a *ahem* legal copy of HL2 because I was waiting for the episode 3 version of the orange box... Umm, yeah. Good luck with that. Episode 3 was originally going to come out sometime in 2007. That was almost 6 years ago and Valve won't even definitively mention if they're working on it. Evidence points to "no" since they've released a bunch of other stuff since. |
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Post by The Anarch on Aug 17, 2013 22:48:07 GMT
I'm guessing you first played it somewhat recently? I suppose it depends on if you think five or six years ago counts as recently. But I know where you're wanting to go . . . either I didn't like the game because I'm spoiled by all the new stuff, or I don't like it because it was all hyped up and therefore doesn't meet my overly grand expectations. As far as hype goes, I am currently in the middle of playing Psychonauts for the first time, which I had been hearing for a long while was basically supposed to be the best game ever. Now, while I wouldn't go quite that far, I am enjoying myself immensely. It really is a great game. The same thing happened regarding Beyond Good & Evil, which I liked quite a bit. And Arkham Asylum. And Portal. And Fallout 3. And Skyrim. And so on and so forth. There are also several games that I felt didn't live up to their hype . . . like Half Life. And the opposite has happened, where I like games that lots of other people don't and blah blah blah. The point is, I don't have hype problems. I'll listen to hype, sometimes make decisions on trying something out because of the hype, but when it comes to whether or not I actually enjoy a game or not, I base that on my actual experience. And my actual experience with Half Life was that it wasn't very good. The physics were wonky as hell, the enemies were boring and punishingly difficult by turns, the story was uninteresting, and the ending, as I intimated before, was awful. Regarding it being an old game that I played long after its release, I love old games. One of my most favorite games in the world was released only a year after Half Life (that would be System Shock 2, which came out in 1999), and I still boot it up for a play through every once in a while and love every second of it. I've got several old console emulators that I like to turn to when I start to get tired of whatever new games I've got going. I even used to write reviews for old games for a while. Might should get back to doing that in fact. Get some Psychonauts love up on there. Anyway, thing is, I don't have a problem with old games. I may not have liked old game Half Life specifically, but in general, I really do love 'em! So I'm sorry, but I didn't like the original Half Life because I simply didn't find it to be a good game. About the only fond thing I can recall about it is that it was the very first game I ever bought on Steam. EDIT: Oh, haha, don't know why it took me so long but I thought of a third way you might have been wanting to go . . . that I didn't like Half Life because I played it after I played Half Life 2 and am thus comparing it to its newer counterpart unfairly. But no, that's not the case either, considering my entire experience with Half Life 2 was watching someone else play it for about ten minutes. I've never actually directly touched the game before. |
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Post by andante on Aug 18, 2013 0:12:19 GMT
-What is this? My coming-of-age senses are tinging! Nice shoes, Annie.  |
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Post by Señor Goose on Aug 18, 2013 6:23:17 GMT
There are definitely games were you can get away with doing that with, though I can't see anyone starting with an episode. Can you get the episodes as stand-alone content? Anyways I have enough ocd in me that the idea of playing any game series out of order leaves me in a corner.* *There is no reason I should even be mentioning the topic of hyperbole but they were sweet to play with. I've never played Portal but Portal 2 is one of my favorite games. Maybe the mark of a good series is the ability for a player to drop into a sequel or later game and still enjoy it, |
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Post by GK Sierra on Aug 19, 2013 5:56:56 GMT
In my experience, most people play HL2 or one of the episodes first. I don't know why, maybe because they're more visible during Steam deals. It's probably because HL2 and the episodes are in the Orange Box. I know that's why I skipped HL1. Exactly. There's been so many bundle deals since they were released, everybody has a copy by now. That's going to need an explanation Is it? It's pretty simple . . . I don't think it's a very good game. In fact, I think it's a pretty terrible game. I managed to push myself into finishing it, mostly because it's one of those historic big-games-what-done-changed-everything and I'm a sucker for nerd cred, but I kinda wish I hadn't because the entire experience was just a chore, especially the ending. If you want to really appreciate an old game, you have to keep in mind the technological capabilities of the era in which it was published. Half-life 1 really grates on the eyes after so many years, so do a lot of other games, even with the nostalgia factor. You should try Black Mesa: Source. It's a free version of Half-Life 1 updated to the Source engine. Complete overhaul. If graphics are your sticking point, that should do the trick. |
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Post by The Anarch on Aug 19, 2013 7:14:26 GMT
If you want to really appreciate an old game I must point you in the direction of my last post in this thread. Old games are something I already absolutely appreciate. If they also fixed the horrible physics, the crappy puzzles, the terrible AI, and the bad writing, I might just try it out. Honestly, the graphics were one of the least things I didn't like about HL1. Though I do have vague memories of thinking things looked very yellow a lot of the time. Kind of like the entire game had been dipped in . . . lemonade. |
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Post by GK Sierra on Aug 19, 2013 7:16:38 GMT
If they also fixed the horrible physics, the crappy puzzles, the terrible AI, and the bad writing, I might just try it out. I suppose you will have to determine that for yourself. |
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Post by Eversist on Aug 19, 2013 7:31:07 GMT
I've actually been trying to play through HL recently (didn't play computer games when it came out) and I'm not sure I can do it; think I'm just going to skip to HL2. I was told that the first game doesn't have much standing in the sequel, anyway. So I'm kinda in agreement with Jim, here.
Didn't know about that Black Mesa: Source project though, how cool!
"The graphical revamp is excellent, and the original air of Half Life 1 is complimented well by the updated Source engine. Apart from your crowbar being encountered at a slightly later stage, and some other minor tweaks, the course of the story and the level design is largely untouched..."
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Post by hargharg on Aug 19, 2013 10:57:29 GMT
The first game is more of a traditional FPS, HL2 is practically an "interactive movie".
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Post by GK Sierra on Aug 19, 2013 13:32:08 GMT
The first game is more of a traditional FPS, HL2 is practically an "interactive movie". Interesting that that should be your takeaway, considering that Valve specifically designed it so that there would be no cut-scenes and the player stayed in first person the whole time. I thought the mix of puzzles and combat was well paced. My only possible beef was Episode 1, but even that prejudice fades once I throw my first Combine with the "on-the-fritz" version of the gravity gun. Talking about crazy I only recently acquired a *ahem* legal copy of HL2 because I was waiting for the episode 3 version of the orange box... I believe they are cutting directly to Half Life 3, or at least renaming the Episode 3 project to that. I am kind of annoyed that Gabe made such a big deal about episodic content, and how it was going to do all these amazing things that would let him release games faster... ...and here we are, still weighting, I mean, *ahem*, waiting. Every time you make a fat joke, Gabe delays HL3 by another six weeks |
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Post by hargharg on Aug 19, 2013 13:49:23 GMT
I didn't mean that in a negative way, but in HL1 the background is only that, background, everything (well almost) happens with you, the protagonist, while in HL2 you get put into this world where everybody else runs around and gets killed too.
Not to mention that in HL1 nothing you do matters in the long run (except the failed experiment right at the start).
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Post by GK Sierra on Aug 19, 2013 14:33:49 GMT
Oh, I see, a more movie-like feel.
I thought you were saying that it felt too linear and on-rails, which is a valid criticism.
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