Half Life 2 First Impressions

[Wormsie]

I take it you didn't like HL2, and that you think the glass is half-empty.

I don't dislike it, but I fail to see why it is praised so much. In a way it feels like a Half-Life 1 mod. The worst thing is that I don't have any idea why I am there...

I just poured myself a full glass, don't worry.

g_g: You can find the thumbs down icon when you click More in the Smilies-list, or by writing :tdown:

[ATMachine]

Hey, has anyone picked up the art book, Raising the Bar? I wanna know if it's worth getting.

I'd say it is. There are some really interesting pictures, like a bunch of monsters that got cut from the game, as well as some early models of characters.

Also, there are a few design documents and short stories scattered throughout. These show off some stuff that got cut from the game before release, like an Air Exchange plant (which replaced Earth's air with noxious Combine gas) and an Arctic weather station.

Plus lots of other weird information. For example, that an early suggestion for Gordon's name was Dr. Dyson Poincaré. And that Alyx's original father was a military man named Captain Vance, who, like Barney, worked for the Combine but was secretly allied with the rebels.

If that sort of stuff interests you, by all means get it.

[guybrush_guy]

I don't dislike it, but I fail to see why it is praised so much. In a way it feels like a Half-Life 1 mod. The worst thing is that I don't have any idea why I am there...

if it makes you feal any better i was'nt a fan of the first game, i played it in a few days time span and i ddi'nt think anything great of it. but i love the new one. it's easily game of the year in my book!

[Marek]

In a way it feels like a Half-Life 1 mod.

You're weird

[Wormsie]

1) You're always out of ammo.

2) The only enemies you encounter are zom... I mean, those policemen/agents/whatever things. And headcrabs. Gotta have headcrabs!

3) There's some kind of a story there.

4) The setting is atmospheric.

[MrHoatzin]

1) You're always out of ammo.

2) The only enemies you encounter are zom... I mean, those policemen/agents/whatever things. And headcrabs. Gotta have headcrabs!

3) There's some kind of a story there.

4) The setting is atmospheric.

1) No, you're always almost out of ammo. That is how suspense is built.

2) You're not very far in, are you?

3 & 4) Fuck you.

[Wormsie]

Those were just the "why it feels like a mod" points.

Who knows, maybe I will love HL2 when I have finished it. And then I will make out with Kingzjester.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

And then I will make out with Kingzjester.

Bitch, step in line.

[waits for Rusalka's wrath.]

[MrHoatzin]

http://members.shaw.ca/storage_4/hl2story/

Do not read if you have not completed Hl2.

I'm having a hard time reconciling the happenings of the first game and the second game with the two expansions. I am also bothered by the inconsistency of the combine technology... there is quite a leap in the critter look between the...

"living machines"

...of HL2 and the second waves of beasties that came from Xen after Gordon left for Xen in the first fugue of Half-Life. The least one could expect is some consistency there...

I mean, the combine foot soldiers are semi-mechanical, while none of the Xen monsters were in the first game or the expansion.

Also why was the Shepherd fellow arrested while Gordon was hired and Barney merely escaped into the wild (in the three servings of the first game)?

[Jake]

But... but... there were mechanical/alien hybrids in the end of HL1, or rather, near the end, before you go to Xen proper...

[DanJW]

Also why was the Shepherd fellow arrested while Gordon was hired and Barney merely escaped into the wild (in the three servings of the first game)?

Shepherd was arrested? I thought he ended up the same as Freeman, being owned by the G-man.

Alienswise:

I too miss the HL1 aliens and their bio-weapons. I look at the new combine as an adaptation to their newly conquered world. Xen clearly has little in the way of metals, hence the bio engineering. But now they are plundering Earth for its raw materials and absorbing the human technology into their own (along with the humans).

[Kolzig]

To tell you the truth, I was expecting to see Shepherd in HL2...

[JimmyTheFish]

I dunno if Valve has rights to Sheaperd, seeing that OpFor was made by gearbox. And I think he was arrested at the end. I'd like to see Gearbox make an OpFor2 using Source. Would be hot to see Sheaperd mixing it up is City 17, or maybe one of the other cities.

[MrHoatzin]

I dunno if Valve has rights to Sheaperd, seeing that OpFor was made by gearbox. And I think he was arrested at the end. I'd like to see Gearbox make an OpFor2 using Source. Would be hot to see Sheaperd mixing it up is City 17, or maybe one of the other cities.

The last scene happens in a chopper, there's G-man there, he says something stern and angry and then the screen goes black and the letters write out "Something Shepherd, arrested" or "apprehended"

[DanJW]

The last scene happens in a chopper, there's G-man there, he says something stern and angry and then the screen goes black and the letters write out "Something Shepherd, arrested" or "apprehended"

Right, he was "apprehended" by the G-man in the same way as Gordon. He gets left in chopper in the Limbo dimension.

[MrHoatzin]

Right, he was "apprehended" by the G-man in the same way as Gordon. He gets left in chopper in the Limbo dimension.

For Gordon the thing said "hired". You know, I may be kinda dim but I am pretty certain the two are not synonymous.

[Redwall]

The last scene happens in a chopper, there's G-man there, he says something stern and angry and then the screen goes black and the letters write out "Something Shepherd, arrested" or "apprehended"

Adrain Sheppard. How can you forget a guy's first name when it's Adrian? I mean, Adrian. Adrian.

[AGA]

His surname is also 'Shepard', not "Shepherd" or "Sheppard".

[MrHoatzin]

His surname is also 'Shepard', not "Shepherd" or "Sheppard".

Moot point, motherfucka'.

[AGA]

Pedantry is my foremost pastime, without it I am nothing!

[MrHoatzin]

Pedantry is my foremost pastime, without it I am nothing!

You are nothing!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Okay, I finally managed to grab my very own copy. I got the Gordon box; spent several minutes at BestBuy trying to decide on him or Alyx, they're both cute, but settled on Gordon 'cause his green eyes looked so damn vulnerable and enticing .

Um, what I can say that everyone else here already hasn't? It's exactly what I expected all this time. It's good, that's all I can say. Marvelous. Engrossing. Deep.

[Wormsie]

I got to... some strange kind of place, and some woman talked a lot and pressed a few buttons so that an elevator rolled up... and then suddenly things stopped happening so I tried to kill her with grenades but she was indestructible as I had suspected. So basically, I think I've encountered a bug...

The game's story is too "in-your-face", though I've got to admit the beginning was cool, with all the bullying from the guards and crying people and raids and stuff.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

BTW, I thought it was so damn perfect and rather poignant how Barney was the one to chuck the now legendary crowbar at Gordon. Almost brought a tear to mine eye. Awwww....

[MrHoatzin]

This ain't really a first impression, but Deadworm reminded me... a pity about Judith Mossman, I kinda liked her. Who wudda thunk it?