All Half-Life games 66% OFF!!!

[RPGmasterBoo]

What, the first one? Compared to "Game of the Year. It's official."

 

The second one compared to about every good FPS I've ever played.

 

Name a better shooter than the first one then?

[Pidesco]

System Shock. No One Lives Forever. TRON 2.0. Rainbow Six. Rogue Spear. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

 

Edit: I'd include DeusEx and SS2, too, but people would start saying they're RPGs, or something.

[RPGmasterBoo]

System Shock. No One Lives Forever. TRON 2.0. Rainbow Six. Rogue Spear. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

 

Edit: I'd include DeusEx and SS2, too, but people would start saying they're RPGs, or something.

 

None of those games had even a part of the significance or radical change in gameplay that Half Life brought. System Shock is the only one that is even in the upper "legendary" class of shooters. The rest are just periodic hits.

[Enoch]

See, my problem with most shooters it that, when a game pulls starts getting the same reactions out of me that a well executed horror film does (e.g., the quick adrenaline-inducing surprise and the OMG-they're-all-around-me-run-hide-die-die-die), I am not amused. I am instead irritated and resentful at the game for putting me through that. It's very much the same (although on the opposite emotional spectrum) as my resentful feeling towards effective tearjerker films. A game/film/whatever has to be really really good in other areas to earn the right to put me through the emotional wringer without me hating it.

 

So, knowing that, are the HL games worth my time? (Cost is secondary to time in my case.)

[RPGmasterBoo]

Half Life has plenty of adrenaline pumping moments, though most are based on action - not "boo" horror.

The demoralizing feeling that events are constantly slipping beyond your control, that you're trapped and almost alone - and that escape always a step too far is how I'd sum up the game. Its somewhat bleak, though there is a fair bit off horror. But not of the cheap scare variety - more the atmospheric sort.

[Pidesco]

System Shock. No One Lives Forever. TRON 2.0. Rainbow Six. Rogue Spear. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

 

Edit: I'd include DeusEx and SS2, too, but people would start saying they're RPGs, or something.

 

None of those games had even a part of the significance or radical change in gameplay that Half Life brought. System Shock is the only one that is even in the upper "legendary" class of shooters. The rest are just periodic hits.

 

1st: you asked for better shooters not for signficance and radical change.

 

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

[Oner]

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

HL proved that FPS-es can have stories, movie-like experience, had great AI, and introduced interaction with your environment (a certain microwave). That's pretty radical. Remember, 1998, not 2009.

 

 

On an unrelated note, nice job closing the SW ideas thread after we go back on topic.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Oner

[Pidesco]

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

HL proved that FPS-es can have stories, movie-like experience, had great AI, and introduced interaction with your environment (a certain microwave). That's pretty radical. Remember, 1998, not 2009.

 

Two of those I covered. Movie-like experience doesn't really mean anything. And wasn't interaction with the environment mostly about crate smashing?

 

On an unrelated note, nice job closing the SW ideas thread after we go back on topic.

 

Hitler threw me off.

[Purkake]

System Shock. No One Lives Forever. TRON 2.0. Rainbow Six. Rogue Spear. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

 

Edit: I'd include DeusEx and SS2, too, but people would start saying they're RPGs, or something.

 

None of those are really pure shooters. Let's see shooter with RPG elements, FPS with spy stuff, don't know, tactical squad-based shooter, same, shooter with RPG elements. Second row: RPG with shooter elements x2. Pure shooters are for example Doom 3, Call of Duty, Serious Sam, Farcry, FEAR, Quake.

 

Maybe you just don't like plain shooters where you just shoot stuff? Even Half-Life keels a bit to the puzzle side. Half-Life's biggest plus is that it never does the same thing until it gets boring. The experience is very directed and varied, you never just run through corridor after corridor mowing down enemies, there's always some kind of twist to it. The shooting part isn't even that good compared to newer shooters.

 

See, my problem with most shooters it that, when a game pulls starts getting the same reactions out of me that a well executed horror film does (e.g., the quick adrenaline-inducing surprise and the OMG-they're-all-around-me-run-hide-die-die-die), I am not amused. I am instead irritated and resentful at the game for putting me through that. It's very much the same (although on the opposite emotional spectrum) as my resentful feeling towards effective tearjerker films. A game/film/whatever has to be really really good in other areas to earn the right to put me through the emotional wringer without me hating it.

 

So, knowing that, are the HL games worth my time? (Cost is secondary to time in my case.)

 

I'd recommend it, HL1 does the scare thing way more than 2. As I said, HL2 keeps mixing it up, one moment you're escaping from Combine soldiers, the next your in sewer tunnels with some zombies then a helicopter is chasing you. It's a fun experience, even if you don't like FPSs all that much.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Purkake

[Oner]

And wasn't interaction with the environment mostly about crate smashing?

I meant it in the not-part-of-core-gameplay sense like the microwave mentioned above and security monitors, etc.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

I just finished Half-Life 2 Episode 1 in two and half hours, without ever playing the game before.

[Purkake]

I just finished Half-Life 2 Episode 1 in two and half hours, without ever playing the game before.

 

Congratulations?

 

EP2 is a bit longer.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Purkake

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Oh, I'm not boasting.

The reason I mentioned it is because... well, two and a half hours is nothing. Portal took longer and it sure as hell didn't get as much attention in terms of developpement.

 

Also, EP2 is very slightly longer, but definitely more interesting.

[RPGmasterBoo]

1st: you asked for better shooters not for signficance and radical change.

 

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

 

Other than that the pacing was perfect, the action far more fluid than in the games you mention, it introduced usable NPCs to FPS, graphically it was a step above everything else. The AI was not just better, it has never been really surpassed. Add to that outstanding multiplayer functionality...

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The pacing was perfect? Are you kidding me?

 

3 hour long ride in the sewers, high speed chases being occasionaly slowed down by puzzles, then the game grinds to a halt for 25 minutes while we listen to all the characters say their completely irrelevant lines. Barney is the worst. I'm actually wishing he dies in Ep3.

Edited August 17, 2009 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Oner]

I believe RPGMastah is talking about HL 1.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Ya.

 

For the record I dislike the sequel as well, though not as much as its competitors - Far Cry and Doom3.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Oh. I apologise, then. I thought we were still talking about HL2/episodes, and I haven't really played Half-life 1 so I wouldn't know anything about it.

[RPGmasterBoo]

The episodes were better than HL2 but too damn short.

[Pidesco]

1st: you asked for better shooters not for signficance and radical change.

 

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

 

Other than that the pacing was perfect, the action far more fluid than in the games you mention, it introduced usable NPCs to FPS, graphically it was a step above everything else. The AI was not just better, it has never been really surpassed. Add to that outstanding multiplayer functionality...

 

 

No One Lives Forever, Unreal Tournament and Stalker have better AI than Half Life. Unreal wiped the floor graphically back in 1998. If you're going to talk about the flow of the action, STALKER, TRON, Serious Sam, Painkiller, Unreal Tournament all have better action than Half Life.

[RPGmasterBoo]

1st: you asked for better shooters not for signficance and radical change.

 

2nd: "radical change?" The AI was much better than in previous FPSs and developing the narrative without removing the player from the game was pretty awesome even if done before by System Shock, but other than that?

 

Other than that the pacing was perfect, the action far more fluid than in the games you mention, it introduced usable NPCs to FPS, graphically it was a step above everything else. The AI was not just better, it has never been really surpassed. Add to that outstanding multiplayer functionality...

 

 

No One Lives Forever, Unreal Tournament and Stalker have better AI than Half Life. Unreal wiped the floor graphically back in 1998. If you're going to talk about the flow of the action, STALKER, TRON, Serious Sam, Painkiller, Unreal Tournament all have better action than Half Life.

 

NOLFs AI was nothing special. Unreal Tournament is a bot based multiplayer game, it cant be compared to a singleplayer game. STALKER's AI worked well only at certain times, just like the game as a whole. As for Unreal, just try both of them out and see which one's graphics have aged better. STALKER had laggy aim and unwieldy weapons. Serious Sam, Painkiller and even Unreal Tournament are arcade shooters in the vein of Quake. Yes they were faster paced and smooth to play but that kind of speed is specific for that subgenre and unsuited for a game like Half Life. Even so Half Life's action never failed to be smooth just like all its other aspects.

Single aspects of gameplay have been done better than HL in other games, but on the whole none had done every aspect so consistently well. That's why the game is considered to be the top.