HL2 Lost Coast This Week!

[Bokishi]

Can I get a Hell Yeah?

[mkreku]

Hell no.

[Gabrielle]

Hell what?

[Bokishi]

Hell no.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Pfft, party pooper.

[Arkan]

Hell what?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Darque]

huh

[alanschu]

woohoo!

 

Watch the GPA plummet!

[mkreku]

Seriously though, the Lost Coast is supposed to pick up where Half-Life 2 ended.. and continue on for like 5 hours of gameplay. 5 hours. Is that really something to get your knickers in a knot over? I don't think so anyhow.

[Kaftan Barlast]

You mean its adds the ending they didnt bother with in Hl2 itself?

[213374U]

You mean its adds the ending story they didnt bother with in Hl2 itself?

Fix'd.

[Musopticon?]

Seriously though, the Lost Coast is supposed to pick up where Half-Life 2 ended.. and continue on for like 5 hours of gameplay.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, it's not. It's supposed to be a showcasing chapter for the new light effects Aftermath takes advantage of and happens in the middle of the game. Not after the end. Thats' Aftermath's fare.

[angshuman]

Yep, Lost Coast is a single-level tech demo (it's free). Gameplay is probably about 10 minutes. Aftermath is the expansion pack.

[mkreku]

Even worse then.

[angshuman]

Even worse then.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's free. Free is good.

[Bokishi]

Hey, earlier you were talkin' about how Quake 4 can't even compare to HL2.

[alanschu]

Even worse then.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Free is never bad.

[Lucius]

Hl2 hate is so uncool. :angry:

[mkreku]

Hey, earlier you were talkin' about how Quake 4 can't even compare to HL2.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yup, I really enjoyed Half-Life 2 and I think it's one of the best FPS's ever made.

 

Does that stop me from thinking that releasing tech demos and five hour long episodes is a bad idea? Nope. I would much rather get a full expansion, a brand new game or anything but these tiny little episodes they're planning to release.

 

Half-Life 2 didn't have a real ending, and it bugs me that they're going to charge me for Aftermath, which is basically the ending that should have been included in Half-Life 2. Lost Coast (now that I've read about it and doesn't confuse it with the expansion anymore) interests me even less, since it's really nothing more than a level designed to promote a technology that I dont give a rats ass for.

[Ellester]

Half-Life had three expansions, not counting multiplayer stuff like Counterstrike and Team Fortress (which was free). I

[metadigital]

Half-Life had three expansions, not counting multiplayer stuff like Counterstrike and Team Fortress (which was free). I

[Darkside]

You mean its adds the ending story they didnt bother with in Hl2 itself?

Fix'd.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

We're not starting this again are we? I thought I beat you people back under your rock last time. <_<

 

I'm too tired to compose another rant, so I'll quote the first one.

 

First of all, there aren't supposed to be any cutscenes. That removes you fromt the action and makes it more like a movie. While this is great for most games, Valve is trying to achieve the effect of immersing you in the action and making you feel like you are Gordon.

 

Second of all, the ambiguous plot is perfect for the point of the game. Gordon isn't on a mission, he isn't on some mystic quest, and he isn't some sort of super hero. He is simply the right man in the wrong place, and this the point Valve is trying to make. The game takes you through these seemingly unconnected events that ultimately leads you to where you need to be at the right second to change an entire world. With this said, I'm sure as the series develops, tiny tidbits spread throughout the games will collect and fall into place, leading into the complex plot with the epic final battle and amazing ending we're all expecting. Valve isn't going to just throw in some cliche plot for every game and tie them together with some sub-standard theme, they're taking their time to develop something truly amazing and immersive. Give them time, making a great game is an art.

 

And don't forget the theme of the game:

 

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

[WITHTEETH]

So look forward (with relish or otherwise) to many expansions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats always nice ot hear. Graphics are great but what about gameplay. I'd rather save $200 and play a year or 2 old engine, then buy another graphic card.

 

I'm also curious to see how well λ

[213374U]

We're not starting this again are we?  I thought I beat you people back under your rock last time.  <_<

Nope, I guess it wasn't me you "beat under my rock". I have yet to see a valid point when defending HL2's story. You will find that it's pretty difficult to defend something that simply doesn't exist, as I'll prove.

 

 

First of all, there aren't supposed to be any cutscenes. That removes you fromt the action and makes it more like a movie. While this is great for most games, Valve is trying to achieve the effect of immersing you in the action and making you feel like you are Gordon.

Fair enough. I'm not, and have never argued the storytelling format of the game. That is a style over substance kind of argument. You argue the former, I always refer to the latter.

 

 

Second of all, the ambiguous plot is perfect for the point of the game. Gordon isn't on a mission, he isn't on some mystic quest, and he isn't some sort of super hero. He is simply the right man in the wrong place, and this the point Valve is trying to make.

That might apply for the first part of the game, when Gordon is simply trying to escape... from something. But, after that is done, what are his motivations for getting himself yet again in that mess? He is a theoretical physicist, not a soldier, not a mercenary. In the original HL Gordon fights as much to save his own life, as he does to save his colleagues and clean up the mess he has made. The bottom line here is that Gordon has absolutely no in-game motivations, as is consequent with the mostly incoherent plot of the game.

 

 

The game takes you through these seemingly unconnected events that ultimately leads you to where you need to be at the right second to change an entire world.

An entire world whose circumstances and details aren't even hinted, making said world completely irrelevant to the player, important as it may be to the character.

 

 

With this said, I'm sure as the series develops, tiny tidbits spread throughout the games will collect and fall into place, leading into the complex plot with the epic final battle and amazing ending we're all expecting.

Huh? I'm not sure I follow here. So, basically, you are asking me to wait and fear not, as the almighty Gabe Newell will deliver the missing pieces in some future installment of the saga?

 

If that is what you are saying, then you are just acknowledging that the game does lack a plot, and therefore I'm right and have been all along. HL2 is a standalone product which lacks a fundamental part. Can you imagine the outrage if HL2 had shipped without texture packs? Without speech?

Alas, those seem to be much higher in the priority list than the writing.

 

Now, the only other way I can read that is that you are used to get your plot-driven entertainment in an incomplete state, and thus, the way HL2 shipped is perfectly fine with you and you can find no fault with it. If that is the case, my recommendation is that you read more books. Quality stuff, and much more immersive than this POS-of-the-year that passed for a masterpiece of innovative storytelling.

 

 

Valve isn't going to just throw in some cliche plot for every game and tie them together with some sub-standard theme, they're taking their time to develop something truly amazing and immersive.

Before making that sort of statements, I recommend you check your facts. HL2 is one of the games that have taken the longest to develop, ever, with some six years in production time. And still you ask for more time? In six freaking years they didn't have the time to think up a story?

 

Get real.

 

 

And don't forget the theme of the game:

 

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

No amount of clever slogans can make up for a missing plot.

 

Cheers from under my rock.

Edited October 27, 2005 by 213374U

[Child of Flame]

Numbersman, if you think Gordo didn't have any motivation, you weren't paying attention.

 

I'm pretty sure it was conveyed in game via the various conversations that the cascade failure Gordon helped start, ended up letting the combine in, and turning the Earth into what it is when he shows up. There's even more bits of story tucked away here and there in the form of the newspaper clippings and pictures that are tacked onto the billboards in both the labs, the Breencasts give still more.

 

I would say his motivation is

 

1. G-Man has thrown him back in, and he has no way out until he finishes whatever it is G-Man wants him to do.

2. He is the one who helped cause all of this, his name is now a revered thing, of mythic proportions, if he leads a rebellion, the people who have been made subservient will follow him.

3. Alyx is a damsel in distress, and Gordon is her knight in shining armor.

 

I don't care if you don't like the way the story was delivered, but it was there, the only thing you can say wasn't there was the ending, and it seemed to be a cliffhanger rather than something that was cut, to me at least.

[213374U]

I'm pretty sure it was conveyed in game via the various conversations that the cascade failure Gordon helped start, ended up letting the combine in, and turning the Earth into what it is when he shows up.  There's even more bits of story tucked away here and there in the form of the newspaper clippings and pictures that are tacked onto the billboards in both the labs, the Breencasts give still more.

Sketchy, at best. Certainly not well fleshed or deep, in any sense of the word. Yes, apparently I have got caught up in my own words, as there was a plot of sorts (the game wasn't Q3A after all), but certainly not enough to support the game.

 

 

I would say his motivation is

 

1.  G-Man has thrown him back in, and he has no way out until he finishes whatever it is G-Man wants him to do. 

2.  He is the one who helped cause all of this, his name is now a revered thing, of mythic proportions, if he leads a rebellion, the people who have been made subservient will follow him. 

3.  Alyx is a damsel in distress, and Gordon is her knight in shining armor. 

1. No way out? He's out as soon as he's managed to evade the Combine patrols. It's not like the player is given the choice to try and run away, only to find himself back in the midst of it by the hand of the Gman. Being a scientist, I would expect him to just get the hell out instead of playing hero.

 

2. Exactly. There is a resistance movement already in place. He doesn't need to do anything by himself, that's what the resistance are there for (if only they could stop stepping into every single mine they can find). While you might find the revolutionary leader figure quite romantic, those usually just get themselves killed when they try to be too much of an example. That is not an explanation for Gordon's recklessness.

 

3. Uh... what? Usually, when you want to establish a plot device like that, you lay down some premises, such as a developing relationship, in order to make the knight-damsel thing credible. In the game, Alyx is just some scruffy girl that Gordon has just met that gets into too much trouble. Yeah, she teaches Gordon how to use the grav gun and shows him her neat robo dog. Yeah, I could feel the passion.

 

 

I don't care if you don't like the way the story was delivered, but it was there, the only thing you can say wasn't there was the ending, and it seemed to be a cliffhanger rather than something that was cut, to me at least.

You need to read, buddy. I already said that I have nothing against a story that is presented 100% from the protagonist's eyes. My problem is not with the way the story is delivered. However, there is no such story, and I'm still waiting for you people to tell me a HL2 story that isn't based off assumptions and loose comments and observations.

 

I want details, I want well defined, deep characters, I want a setting setup, I want motivations.

 

Well?

Edited October 27, 2005 by 213374U