*HL2 is lacking in story...*

[Dsty2001]

Ok, every time I hear this it makes me literally laugh out loud. Everybody compares HL1s story and HL2s story. So please explain, where exactly in HL1 is there more of a story than in HL2? I've played HL1 probably 16 times now, and just like in Half-Life 2, instead of being spoon fed the story you get little clues and hints along the way. So please explain to me, how does HL1 have more of a story than HL2? The simple awnser is

It doesn't

Half-Life 1 - Normal day at work turns into a apocalyptic hell hole with aliens teleporting in everywhere. You go along, find out the Goverment has sent in the military to silence people. Then you find out that species from Xen were being held in Black Mesa. At the end you defeat a giant boss, offered a job by the GMAN.

Half-Life 2 - You wake up from some sort of preservation, find out the world is now under the control of a alien race known as the Combine. Throughout the game you meet up with old characters, notice weird experiments on humans. At the end Breen tells you that your doing the wrong thing, you destroy the Citadel and the GMan stops time saving you (maybe Alyx also) from the explosion, forces you to work for him and once again, your preserved.

I don't know *shrugs*

 

[Dead-Inside]

The "Giant Boss" also forcefully controlled the vortigaunts. Maybe you should add that? It's quite a bit of the story.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Like I said in one of my other posts...We know a lot about hl1 because we have expansions, user made mods and a lot of theories that make a good picture...That is all...In time everyone will realise how great hl2 story is and then complain about hl3...its how the world works.

 

[destrukt]

spoiler tags idiot.

 

[x84D80Yx]

HL2 is lacking in story...

yea i said it, so what?

 

[kupocake]

The "Giant Boss" also forcefully controlled the vortigaunts. Maybe you should add that? It's quite a bit of the story.

But that was pure speculation in HL1, only HL2 actually confirmed it.

Dsty2001, you're spot on. It's easy to forget that HL1, despite its quality, was even thinner in story terms. HL2 refines the things that made HL1's story-telling great and expands on them... it's just that people have somehow fooled themselves into thinking that HL1 was somehow big on story.

 

[Dsty2001]

Like I said in one of my other posts...We know a lot about hl1 because we have expansions, user made mods and a lot of theories that make a good picture...That is all...In time everyone will realise how great hl2 story is and then complain about hl3...its how the world works.

EXACTLY! We have not only had 5 years to figure this stuff out, but we have also had 2 expansions to give us an even clearer picture. People didn't know when the game was first released that the Vortiguants were controlled by the Nihilanth, people didn't know most of what we know now.

 

[DrunkPanda]

you get little clues and hints along the way.


[/Half-QUOTE]
exactly, you don't GET a story at all, you get little hints and clues. it's dumb. if you ask someone who's played half life 2 what the game was about. they will say the world/city is controlled by breen who uses alien soldiers to keep the civilians under control. alien soldiers are supplied by that weird ass thing that we saw in last chapter who controls breen as well.
if you ask them to elaborate they will say......... errrrrr......... cuz there IS nothing to elaborate on. in my opinion that is not a good story. you don't get any answers at all, just questions. before you say the third will explain everything, how the hell do you know? valve said they would give us some answers in half life 2. what answers have they given us? they said we would learn more about the gman. what did we learn about the gman besides the fact that he can stop time? i'm starting to think valve doesn't KNOW how to write a story. they just put in little fragments and hope we think up a story for ourselves so that they won't have to do it.

sorry for my rant, i just don't like when people defend half life's story

 

[Jimmeh]

One thing that annoys me is when people say Halo 2 has more of a story that Half-Life 2. Just because a games got cut-scenes to watch doesn't make it any more a story! As for HL2's story, I thought it was brilliant, as well as the setting, I for one would've loved to see more of the intro expanded, showing City 17 off, maybe meeting some characters before all hell breaks loose.

Since I got it, Half-Life 2's setting and ideas (the combine, combine uniforms and striders etc. City 17) would make such a great film if done right. The talk of a Half-Life movie years ago sent shivers down my spine, as HL's storyline was a little corny for a film if you ask me.

 

[Spartan]

So please explain, where exactly in HL1 is there more of a story than in HL2?

Less is more. Half-Life's story is pretty simple, but it's presentation is excellent. The intrigue and mystery in the story is at an acceptable level, not overblown to pieces like in HL2.

 

[Spartan]

Just because a games got cut-scenes to watch doesn't make it any more a story!

Half-Life 2 has cut scenes. Yeah, you can run around the room and throw cans at people while they are playing, but they are still cutscenes. HL2's cutscenes are, simply put, weak. The player never speaks, so everything is completely onesided, and there's no drama to them (music, camera angles, cutting - the things that you see in films).

 

[DrunkPanda]

i agree. if the player isn't allowed to do anything else but watch the people talk, it counts as a cut scene to me. especially the 2nd to last chapter (or third to last?) the whole ****ing chapter was a cut scene! you were restrained to that weird capsule so you couldn't even move. could just look around a little.

 

[CriYam]

Well, in short, I felt in HL1 you had a purpose. You're a scientist arriving to work and you run an experiment that obviously makes the shit hit the fan. You need to get the hell out of there, along the way you learn pieces of what was going on.

And then a new development, government agents don't want anything coming out of mesa alive. So, you figure if you can get rid of the alien presence (in another dimension) everything will be Q5.

Problem --> Solution --> Problem -->Solution


In HL2 you start by running for your life pretty much(the whole way gathering questions), right up until the final "confrontation" where it ends abruptly.

I didn't feel there were any real goals, you kinda just went through the motions.

123456

 

[Spartan]

i agree. if the player isn't allowed to do anything else but watch the people talk, it counts as a cut scene to me. especially the 2nd to last chapter (or third to last?) the whole ****ing chapter was a cut scene! you were restrained to that weird capsule so you couldn't even move. could just look around a little.

I thought that scene was pretty cool, because it was clearly meant to be similiar to the tram ride in Half-Life. However, why didn't they start the game with a longer train ride? Where you could see the scenery?

 

[we11er]

i agree. if the player isn't allowed to do anything else but watch the people talk, it counts as a cut scene to me. especially the 2nd to last chapter (or third to last?) the whole ****ing chapter was a cut scene! you were restrained to that weird capsule so you couldn't even move. could just look around a little.

You're still seeing it from Gordon's eyes though, which is the whole point.

 

[subtlesnake]

They wanted to go easy on people replaying the game. The HL train intro got annoying after serveral play throughs.

 

[A.I.]

Half-Life 2 has cut scenes. Yeah, you can run around the room and throw cans at people while they are playing, but they are still cutscenes. HL2's cutscenes are, simply put, weak. The player never speaks, so everything is completely onesided, and there's no drama to them (music, camera angles, cutting - the things that you see in films).

Of course you silly, this is a game not a movie

HL1 felt more like a B-production movie while HL2 is much more spectacular in every aspect. And that's what people are actually complaining about. They just don't know how to express themselves right.

It's about non-spectacularity which made HL1 a bit more "soulfull" (dunno how to put it right). In HL2 you just rush through some places like the airboat ride for example. That never happened in HL even on the Railroad which could be the comparable to airboat or buggy ride.

 

[DrunkPanda]

They wanted to go easy on people replaying the game. The HL train intro got annoying after serveral play throughs.

but then why did they have that long thing with gman at the beginning? that got annoying even the FIRST time playing through cuz i already saw that in a trailer