HL2, great game- BUT WHERE THE HEC IS THE STORY??

Just a quick question, but would you say that the story in Half-life 2 stands up to say Knights of the Old Republic, Baldurs Gate, Deus Ex.
 
all i am saying is i didn't think the story was exactly strong. In half life one at least everything was laid out nice and clear, as in blue shift and opposing force, in hl2 breens plan isn't even explained. All you find out is that it has something to do with genecide.

And, to some fo your senior members who can't seem to work out that "altho" means although and "gr8" means great, i would suggest that they make their way to an i.q test.
 
-doubledash- said:
all i am saying is i didn't think the story was exactly strong. In half life one at least everything was laid out nice and clear, as in blue shift and opposing force, in hl2 breens plan isn't even explained. All you find out is that it has something to do with genecide.

And, to some fo your senior members who can't seem to work out that "altho" means although and "gr8" means great, i would suggest that they make their way to an i.q test.
Click to expand...

/me drags doubledash to a political conscript detention facility for anti-1337 treatment, rehab, resocialization, and relocation to the Halo forums.

btw, its genocide.
 
HL2 has a very detailed story. Either that, or Marc Laidlaw was just tripping on (Insert dangerous chemical here) and wrote random stuff for like 500 pages long and then gave it to Gabe.

By the way doubledash, go to Garrys Forums , they'll be incredibly happy to have you there and don't mind a bit "AOL" slander, if you know what I mean ;).
 
-doubledash- said:
And, to some fo your senior members who can't seem to work out that "altho" means although and "gr8" means great, i would suggest that they make their way to an i.q test.
Click to expand...

I hope you know, anyone can get over 1000 posts to become a senior member, backfired on you right there pal.
 
Seriously, though, anyone who has posted over 1000 messages on a web board should be able read the 'speak'. Hell most people text like rabid monkeys, using sentences that are pure garbage, yet 4 year olds can read them.

Anyway back on topic.

My major gripe is not so much the story (although too much Dues Ex coincidental convenience for my liking) But rather in the way it's told, or more appropriately, not.

See the game starts well and then begins to ebb out slowly (story wise). I remember thumping down on the mudskipper, chopper above me taking pot shots, doing jumps and all kinds of crazy moves. My thoughts were simple ‘Gaming doesn’t get better than this’. Half Life 2 is full of such pieces, the rail bridge, your first gun ship, the citadel.

However while it might be more natural for people to not explain everything, it rapidly sweeps too far in one direction, you can’t question why.

‘Hey Gordon, no time to talk, go depopulate a small village of Combine, cheers, now off to Nova Prospect with you ta ta.’

Everything Half life 2 does in the background is great rich background environment. Possibly even better than Dues Ex.

However it’s not the story, but how you tell the story that’s more important, just like a good comedian has killer timing, a cracking story reveals tibbits to keep you hungry for more.

Half Life 2, ultimately fails to achieve this level, the tibbits are more scraps to stop you from starving between action set pieces.

Sure, the background is there, in the background where it should be, and it’s rich and full. But the plot? The revelations? The closure? The character development? Any other game would be slated, and relying on a previous game that not everyone will of played is weak.
 
If it has no story, then how have I written a 186,000 word fan fiction on it?

I agree that they did not tell or even show us enough of the story in hl2, all of the charachters just seemed to assume that you're gordon and therefore know absolutley everything...I doubt that the third one will answer many questions either. But answering them yourself is half the fun!
 
How can you have a character development, when you are the character?
 
Thats what HL3 is for. And I know a great website that helps people learn English...
 
Raxxman said:
Seriously, though, anyone who has posted over 1000 messages on a web board should be able read the 'speak'. Hell most people text like rabid monkeys, using sentences that are pure garbage, yet 4 year olds can read them.

Anyway back on topic.

My major gripe is not so much the story (although too much Dues Ex coincidental convenience for my liking) But rather in the way it's told, or more appropriately, not.

See the game starts well and then begins to ebb out slowly (story wise). I remember thumping down on the mudskipper, chopper above me taking pot shots, doing jumps and all kinds of crazy moves. My thoughts were simple ‘Gaming doesn’t get better than this’. Half Life 2 is full of such pieces, the rail bridge, your first gun ship, the citadel.

However while it might be more natural for people to not explain everything, it rapidly sweeps too far in one direction, you can’t question why.

‘Hey Gordon, no time to talk, go depopulate a small village of Combine, cheers, now off to Nova Prospect with you ta ta.’

Everything Half life 2 does in the background is great rich background environment. Possibly even better than Dues Ex.

However it’s not the story, but how you tell the story that’s more important, just like a good comedian has killer timing, a cracking story reveals tibbits to keep you hungry for more.

Half Life 2, ultimately fails to achieve this level, the tibbits are more scraps to stop you from starving between action set pieces.

Sure, the background is there, in the background where it should be, and it’s rich and full. But the plot? The revelations? The closure? The character development? Any other game would be slated, and relying on a previous game that not everyone will of played is weak.
Click to expand...

No, Valve took a step in a direction no other shooters have actually attemped and that is to take bold new steps in the direction of how to tell a story. If I had a helper character or a typical cutscene plot on my hands I'd be quite frankly annoying at Valve. Because that is what all shooters do. Half-life 2 did something different and it paid off.

There is no story? Someone made an entire website on it and you say there is no story?
 
forget i typed anything.
I am thirteen years old, i played a COMPUTER GAME (some of you need to remember that its just a game) and i didn't understand the story fully. I didn't get breens evil plan or why the cmbine took over, so i went on a forum and typed it in. The next day i get 50 replies, practically all of them insulting me. Do some of you feel like big men calling kids stupid or something, its just a game, all i wanted was help understanding the story, i have only been on this planet for 13 years so i don't really understand the world but at least now i realise that asking for help only gets you ridiculed and laughed at. I will keep that in mind for my future.

Don't bother typeing anything about me again, i have read four pages of it and don't worry, i won't be typeing anything else anytime soon.
 
-doubledash- said:
forget i typed anything.
I am thirteen years old, i played a COMPUTER GAME (some of you need to remember that its just a game) and i didn't understand the story fully. I didn't get breens evil plan or why the cmbine took over, so i went on a forum and typed it in. The next day i get 50 replies, practically all of them insulting me. Do some of you feel like big men calling kids stupid or something, its just a game, all i wanted was help understanding the story, i have only been on this planet for 13 years so i don't really understand the world but at least now i realise that asking for help only gets you ridiculed and laughed at. I will keep that in mind for my future.

Don't bother typeing anything about me again, i have read four pages of it and don't worry, i won't be typeing anything else anytime soon.
Click to expand...


Breen didn't have an evil plan :)

But if you need answers, you should post a thread here: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=51

We'll gladly answer your questions. :thumbs:
 
Raxxman said:
Anyway back on topic.

My major gripe is not so much the story (although too much Dues Ex coincidental convenience for my liking) But rather in the way it's told, or more appropriately, not.

See the game starts well and then begins to ebb out slowly (story wise). I remember thumping down on the mudskipper, chopper above me taking pot shots, doing jumps and all kinds of crazy moves. My thoughts were simple ‘Gaming doesn’t get better than this’. Half Life 2 is full of such pieces, the rail bridge, your first gun ship, the citadel.

However while it might be more natural for people to not explain everything, it rapidly sweeps too far in one direction, you can’t question why.

‘Hey Gordon, no time to talk, go depopulate a small village of Combine, cheers, now off to Nova Prospect with you ta ta.’

Everything Half life 2 does in the background is great rich background environment. Possibly even better than Dues Ex.

However it’s not the story, but how you tell the story that’s more important, just like a good comedian has killer timing, a cracking story reveals tibbits to keep you hungry for more.

Half Life 2, ultimately fails to achieve this level, the tibbits are more scraps to stop you from starving between action set pieces.

Sure, the background is there, in the background where it should be, and it’s rich and full. But the plot? The revelations? The closure? The character development? Any other game would be slated, and relying on a previous game that not everyone will of played is weak.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more. I can't remember what thread I said this in - the overarching story is fine, but the immediate one you're involved in is lame. Randomly going from place to place.

The only reason you went to Breen's joint was because of a kidnapping. A kidnapping for god's sake.
 
StardogChampion said:
The only reason you went to Breen's joint was because of a kidnapping. A kidnapping for god's sake.
Click to expand...

the ultiment goal of the resistance was to reach the citadel and take it down. If the resistances uprising would have occured before eli was kiddnapped they would've still made their way to the citadel walls. Plus you and alyx were the only ones who would've known that eli had been taking to the citadel and you were in slow time warp for a week. And by how dr. keiner and barney talk it sounds like the resistance is pushing towards the citadel even before you link up with them. So while rescueing the Vances would've been in extra incentive for reaching the citadel i think the resistance recognized long before that that taking down the citadel would be extremely EXETREMELY symbolic and a major blow to world wide combine operations even if it does endanger every citizen of city 17 it would probably spark up world wide uprisings against overwatch.

So while the kidnapping of Eli Vance did ultimently set the events in motion that led to the demise of the city 17 citadel, I think that with the return of Gordon Freeman, a concentrated attack by the resistance was inevitable.
 
-doubledash- said:
I am thirteen years old, i played a COMPUTER GAME (some of you need to remember that its just a game) and i didn't understand the story fully.
Click to expand...


This is probably part of why the game is rated 'M', I think.
 
This guy wasn't paying atention, Breen isn't evil, he just has the wrong idea, he is trying to save human kind, and that guy should also get away from mobile phones, next he'll be writing his homework like that.
 
ríomhaire said:
This guy wasn't paying atention, Breen isn't evil, he just has the wrong idea, he is trying to save human kind, and that guy should also get away from mobile phones, next he'll be writing his homework like that.
Click to expand...

Not just trying to save mankind, trying to save his ass too.
 
Breen didn't have the wrong idea, he had the right idea. He surrendered Earth to save mankind, although at the same time he saw the opportunities that were lying before him. Knowledge and power and he took them without a second thought.
 
yeah at the start he was right but he was siting idily be while the Combine turned everyone into a trans-human
 
no, Breen wasn't doing the "right thing" by surrendering Earth. In fact, it was breen himself who opened up the world to the invasion. Breen made a deal with the xenians and with The Combine before the resonance cascade even happened. Breen pushed his staff to completle an analysis on the particle which he knew would cause the resonance cascade and allow the Combine to invade. Breen didn't really care much for the species, he only wanted to be the head of an empire which he thought would expand into the stars. For some reason it seems like Breen thought that the overwatch would grant humankind "equal standing" within the rest of the Combine after some time, however, he had no idea that the combine merely intended to enslave and genetically alter the race and turn them into nothing but stalkers.
 
You get the feeling that Breen as a character has been telling himself that he's doing what's necessary for so long, he's started to believe it himself. Or, he knows, deep down, that what he's helped orchestrate is wrong, but he keeps doing it because if he stopped, and admitted he was wrong, that would make him responsible for "genocide, indescribable evil" as opposed to what's necessary for humanity.

Cognitive dissonance, I think. Now that's character development. I think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
 
ríomhaire said:
yeah at the start he was right but he was siting idily be while the Combine turned everyone into a trans-human
Click to expand...

I believe he thought this to be for the best, he did rant on about immortality and I can only see being integrated within the combine technology the way forward.

Theotherguy: That is mere speculation, not fact
 
StardogChampion said:
Couldn't agree more. I can't remember what thread I said this in - the overarching story is fine, but the immediate one you're involved in is lame. Randomly going from place to place.
Click to expand...

****in' A.
The subtle little details that people go on and on and on about set the scene, they don't contribute to the drama that you actually play through.
 
Also, not that I think the storyline is bad, but if it "was" bad, who gives a crap? As long as I get to blow the head off of an alien, I don't care.
 
Let's put it this way: Half-Life 2's story STILL SUCKS compared to the complete legendary fable of HL1, so LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!
 
Foebane said:
Let's put it this way: Half-Life 2's story STILL SUCKS compared to the complete legendary fable of HL1, so LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!
Click to expand...

Thats your opinion, not everyone thinks like you.
 
Foebane said:
Let's put it this way: Half-Life 2's story STILL SUCKS compared to the complete legendary fable of HL1, so LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!
Click to expand...
That's a bit of a stupid post seeing that it's the one story.
 
Foebane said:
Let's put it this way: Half-Life 2's story STILL SUCKS compared to the complete legendary fable of HL1, so LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!
Click to expand...

No, we won't. Your opion/Our opinion. Not the same.
 
This fella sure is bright. I guess real life lacks a story, too.
 
mechagodzilla said:
A dearth of imagination is the real problem here.
Click to expand...

Damn straight.

People also boast about completing the game in 3 hours, and then come on here ranting at Valve because they, the player, just blatantly ignored all the cool story pointers which were dropped in the game (eg, cameras, speeches, etc). Don't expect the rest of us to listen to or agree with you.
 
Took me nearly 8 days, so I'm pretty much caught up on some of the story. Sure its a complex story, but there is a story, but it takes imagination and thought to decipher and unroll the storyline...
 
Foebane said:
Let's put it this way: Half-Life 2's story STILL SUCKS compared to the complete legendary fable of HL1, so LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go as far as saying the story in HL1 was a "legendary fable". But yeah, HL1 had a better story then HL2....i think...i can't really remember much from either games now.
 
Laivasse said:
Damn straight.

People also boast about completing the game in 3 hours, and then come on here ranting at Valve because they, the player, just blatantly ignored all the cool story pointers which were dropped in the game (eg, cameras, speeches, etc). Don't expect the rest of us to listen to or agree with you.
Click to expand...
True dat.

Honestly folks, no one tells you everything in real life. You have to talk to people, watch people, watch and listen to things, to see what's going on in life. Which is why half-life 1 and 2 are so immersive. It feels like real life. And its not my fault you have no imagination. Next thing you know, people will complain that Super Mario has no storyline.
 
Oh my god....Super Mario Brothers doesn't have a storyline :O

But they told me the princess was in the next castle....they told me so...
 
Sparta said:
Oh my god....Super Mario Brothers doesn't have a storyline :O

But they told me the princess was in the next castle....they told me so...
Click to expand...

What? They did? I missed it. argh.......

anyway, What is SMB's story?
 
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