Noooooo!

[Wesisapie]

quoted from sharky extreme's interview with some valve employees
"Not just characters who tell you something, then run away only to get killed by a tentacle. These are people you have to protect. These are people who you want to come with you. They really add to the game. "


;(

i was afraid of the whole "people have to protect" part. I fear it will indeed be Alyx. Please... don't go down that road valve, no-one likes protect missions.

people you _can_ protect, if you want to, would be far better... or just "have to" protect, like the barney near the end of surface tension would be good. but not for longer than one small battle

 

[ValVed RaY]

i will kill alyx

 

[LoneDeranger]

Don't worry, it's gona be like the Barney mission in the video. He isn't following you around or anything. He does his own thing, and you just help him out (i.e. lift the barricade door)

 

[Wesisapie]

Hahaha... I noticed, I will too... probably 10 times, in different ways... each time making me "fail" my mission.. until i get back on track with the mission.

 

[ValVed RaY]

i'll help alyx reach her expiration date faster than she can say, stop staring at me gor..(ROCKET LAUNCHER EXPLODES ON HER FACE)

 

[Wesisapie]

Haha... yeah.. "stop staring at me gordon" i think that is the line that made me hate her.
She stares at him, but he doesn't say that back to her.
She's so pretentious and over-acted.

 

[SpuD]

shes a bitch

 

[Agent0range]

You guys are a little over-obsessive. Of what? I'm not being an ass, I really want to know because I don't see it what's wrong with her.... I do agree though that I don't want to protect her ass through the whole game

 

[Straylight]

Ya I also have the fear that you will be guarding/escorting alyx for a lot of the game. Too make it worse, I have the suspicion that she isn't even going to have weapons to defend herself. I mean when that combine trooper is about to shoot you before the hydra gets him she is unarmed and does nothing but say "ut-oh."

-Straylight

 

[dovoxove]

Originally posted by Wesisapie
quoted from sharky extreme's interview with some valve employees
"Not just characters who tell you something, then run away only to get killed by a tentacle. These are people you have to protect. These are people who you want to come with you. They really add to the game. "


;(

i was afraid of the whole "people have to protect" part. I fear it will indeed be Alyx. Please... don't go down that road valve, no-one likes protect missions.

people you _can_ protect, if you want to, would be far better... or just "have to" protect, like the barney near the end of surface tension would be good. but not for longer than one small battle

it's only a game

 

[simmo]

yeah its only a game, lol this emotion and facial system has got people developing hate and thier own emotions towards characters...eheh

 

[Apos]

I'm not a huge fan of babysitting, but there seem to be a lot of different sorts of action sequences that don't involve unarmed, character NPCs as well. Still, I will be a little miffed if there is too much "forced failure" for NPCs htat get killed off, especially if its their own damn fault for being stupid.

 

[Bilko]

Alyx will almost definitely use a gun as well so I doubt she is as useless as you lot think.

 

[djkanuk]

I think the new AI will be one of the best features of HL2. Not only will Barney and Alyx be able to take care of themselves, I'll bet they'll save Gordon's ass a number of times in the game.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Your are judging the character of alyx on a few little bits of video.

They always make people over reactive in games. If they didn't, unless they had created exact replicas of people, they would seem quite lifeless.
Of course Gordon doesn't say anything back! Hes not supposed to talk. Thats partly the reason why they have to be like that, to fill in the gaps Gordon leaves by not talking. Its difficult making characters seem real when they haven't anyone to interact with.

 

[Lordblackadder]

Meesa worry the Valvy peeplesa makea JArJAr.

Yess Meessa worry massa Kanobi.

JarJarverb) [a] to screw up a completely awesome entertainment vechicle with cutesy characters, rastafarian aliens, female sidekicks, smartypants children, who simply annoy the audience. (noun) a fatal mistake made by producers, who try to be condoscending to their audience.

Sentence EX: I hope Valve doesn't pull a JarJar with the NPC's in HL2.

 

[Cleric]

as far as i can see she just acts like most girls in the world "oh no baddie!! please come an help me!!" with any luck during the parts you have to protect her she will just cower behind a box somewhere an cry a bit untill the fighting is done and not run around in you line of fire!!!

 

[EVIL]

I dont mind helping NPC's.. they help you immerse in the game.

 

[Lordblackadder]

In HL1 or OpFor I generally felt good after fighting through a sequence and seeing that all my allies survived. But when they got in the way.....

One thing that annoyed me about OpFor is how your soldiers would get in the way and then get all pissy when you accidently shot one.

 

[Tull91]

If she doesnt run into enemy fire or jump off a cliff or gets killed by her own stupidity I dont really see a problem. But I would hate a mission like "Oh, strong Gordon! kill those bad men while I run over to the bomb and defuse it!" and then u have to keep up with her AND kill stuff...

 

[ComradeBadger]

If she says anything remotly like "Oh strong Gordon" then I will get rather annoyed with Valve, since thats totally sexist, and Valve should know better than to portrey women as whiny girls who say stuff like that, I mean god.... sorry if I kick off a flame war, but I have many mates who are female and they are from lame

 

[FireBall]

town?

 

[Guest]

I'm a mean fag. I want to get drilled in my poophole by Alyx. I want her to make a snuff video with me as the central fag who gets it all.

 

[Tull91]

GOD I HATE SNUFF MOVIES!!!!

off-topic*

 

[Kamakazie]

would you lot jsut stop ****ing moaning about parts of the game you have no idea about..... HL was a great game... Valve rekon HL2 is MUCH better........ ok speculate but dont start moaning about it.
trust Valve and IF they **** up THEN you may be able to moan..... but its their game and im sure they will do a fine job.
fs
and watch and lsiten to itnerviews and things..... some of the posts saying things like "i bet alyx wont even carry a gun" are so STUPID its unbelievable....... you can tell she will carry weapons just by when she says
"why didn;t i lsiten to my father blah blah its the first time ive had a real oppertunity to strike back at the combine"....... oh man nooo shes gonna be the FIRST FREEDOM FIGHTER WHO NEVER CARRIES A WEAPON........ bar ghandi and martin luther king..... great one guys... ina fps the freedom fighter you meet carries no guns....... yet isn't passive because she is trying to blow summit up... gd one!!!

Kam

 

[The Mullinator]

Who cares if their is gonna be some protection missions, Valve knows what makes a game fun. They have been following the community for as long as its been around to get the idea of what people want. So if there is going to be protection missions then you can expect Valve will put a twist on them to make them better. Even if they don't then I suspect that they will simply keep them to a minimum.

Either way, does it REALLY matter all that much. Just as long as Valve doesn't screw up (which I severely doubt will happen) then no it doesn't.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Well said Kam and Mullinator..... don't moan yet....cos in all liklyhood you won't have anything to worry about.....

 

[Lordblackadder]

Protecting NPC from time to time may be interesting, that's what made the original so cool, you needed to keep those scientists alive to let you out of the lab in Q. Eth.

I always felt good about leaving living barnies behind after combat. But maybe I've just been taking those yoga classes too seriously.

 

[The Mullinator]

Ya I always liked gathering up an army of barneys and then when I got to a part where they wouldn't be able to follow me then I would group them with as many scientists and then leave them all behind.

 

[Lordblackadder]

Originally posted by The Mullinator
Ya I always liked gathering up an army of barneys and then when I got to a part where they wouldn't be able to follow me then I would group them with as many scientists and then leave them all behind.

Good. You know how alot of walkthroughs would tell you to kill a barney for his ammo? I was never able to do that. Unless he was being a complete idiot, then I would off him for insubordination.

I'm a big softie.

 

[ComradeBadger]

many people did that....it's not just you......I loved the NPCs in HL.... I behaved like they were really co-workers of mine and treated them that way, there are few games where you can immerse yourself like that...

 

[Lordblackadder]

Originally posted by mrBadger
many people did that....it's not just you......I loved the NPCs in HL.... I behaved like they were really co-workers of mine and treated them that way, there are few games where you can immerse yourself like that...

You stole their lunches from the fridge? Burrowed money?

 

[FireBall]

Burrowed money?

What are you, some kind of an office pirate?

 

[Lordblackadder]

Originally posted by FireBall
What are you, some kind of an office pirate?

A badger would Burrow their money.

Me? Oh I usually wind up the victim, now I booby trap my lunches.

'scuse me, I need a little snack...OUCH!!

 

[FireBall]

Ah, now I get it

 

[Lordblackadder]

Originally posted by mrBadger
If she says anything remotly like "Oh strong Gordon" then I will get rather annoyed with Valve, since thats totally sexist, and Valve should know better than to portrey women as whiny girls who say stuff like that, I mean god.... sorry if I kick off a flame war, but I have many mates who are female and they are from lame

That's right, we don't want her acting like the scientists in HL1.

Your female friends, you say their from some place called Lame? Lame, Idaho?

What do you have against sexists?

-----------LBA runnin' for the shield generator room.

 

[The Mullinator]

Well the more stereo typical the character is will often mean the more annoying they are. Of course the more annoying they are will mean the more ValVed RaY's you will end up having.

*Quivers at thought of more people like him*

EDIT: Then of course there is the realism factor, the controversy from womens groups, and the the reputation of the gaming industry being brought down another few notches.

 

[Mr.Reak]

What are we talking about? Uh..

 

[The Mullinator]

Perfect Dark for the N64 is the perfect example of a game without any stereotypes against women.

 

[djkanuk]

No Jar-Jars in HL2

Originally posted by Lordblackadder
Meesa worry the Valvy peeplesa makea JArJAr.

Yess Meessa worry massa Kanobi.

JarJarverb) [a] to screw up a completely awesome entertainment vechicle with cutesy characters, rastafarian aliens, female sidekicks, smartypants children, who simply annoy the audience. (noun) a fatal mistake made by producers, who try to be condoscending to their audience.

Sentence EX: I hope Valve doesn't pull a JarJar with the NPC's in HL2.

Comparing the feel of the game and the interactions with the NPCs in Half-Life with what we've seen in the HL2 videos, I'd say that the opposite was true. The HL2 characters are much more realistic, serious, and less-cartoonlike than in HL1. There was always kind of a dorky cartoon humour with the HL1 characters, and because of the level of 3D graphics at the time, they looked a bit cartoonish as well. But now, the general tone of HL2 seems more serious, and the characters more lifelike.

And like others here, I hope they don't turn Alyx into a Lara Croft-style sex toy for 13 year olds. The audience of this game (well, most anyway), are smarter than that and deserve better.