[Naren]

Originally Posted by sakeido

Wow someone actually does not think Half Life was groundbreaking? What are you comparing it to, games that came out five years later?

Halo cannot be compared because it came out WAY after Half Life and is a very different kind of FPS.

I do not think Halo was groundbreaking AT ALL, but I do think that Half Life was very groundbreaking. I heard some person say "Actually Halo was groundbreaking in that it was the first real console-only FPS." and I reminded him of several previous console FPSs such as GoldenEye and he said, "I guess you're right. GoldenEye was a pretty excellent console FPS. So, although Halo wasn't groundbreaking, but it is pretty fun."

Half Life's most groundbreaking part is how it has the storyline all occurring in continous non-stop scenes that occur regardless of whether you're watching or not or even in the same scene. This made the game much more realistic. Also, Half Life 1 was pretty much the first FPS to have that indepth of a storyline. Several previous FPSs had storylines, but nowhere near the depth of Half Life.

[TheMissing]

Originally Posted by Chris

Honestly, go play HL1 first before you dive into HL2. You're almost 100% wrong on every assumption that you make man, and HL1 is fucking awesome, better than HL2 in my opinion.

Unfortunately, at the time of writing my first post, I was on the second to last chapter

I peeked at the first 5 minutes of Episode 1, and then stopped, cause I was just curious to see where it was going. Later on tonite, i'm going to download the first one off of steam to my computer, before I continue on with episode 1.

I was just confused by things I had read in the wiki that didn't make much sense with what I was seeing in HL2.

HL2 was a great game. My only problem was there was too much filler. By that I mean when you get the air boat... That section is TOO GODDAMN LONG, same with the buggy driving section. And at the end when your in one of those prisoner transportation pod things, after about 5 minutes of floating around I was like "Ok... GET ON WITH IT"

Oh... And I HATED the friggin squads that followed you and would BLOCK EVERY FRIGGIN DOORWAY and sometimes i'd get stuck between two and they wouldn't move >.<

Can't wait to play HL1 for real (i've seen someone play the first 30 minutes of it before)

[sakeido]

I thought the game was perfectly paced. The pacing gets even better IMO in Ep1 and Ep2 though.. and the story moves less subtley.

[Pauly]

Ep1 is great but slows once you get out the Citadel, and the final fight is a bit limp, Ep2 is just EPIC though. I enjoyed it immensely! The first time you fight the Hunters I was crapping myself, Dog vs. tripod walker, crawling through the crap towards the sentry cannon thing, the view at the beginning, running from that fucking Guardian. Awesome.

Originally Posted by TheMissing

Unfortunately, at the time of writing my first post, I was on the second to last chapter

I peeked at the first 5 minutes of Episode 1, and then stopped, cause I was just curious to see where it was going. Later on tonite, i'm going to download the first one off of steam to my computer, before I continue on with episode 1.

I was just confused by things I had read in the wiki that didn't make much sense with what I was seeing in HL2.

HL2 was a great game. My only problem was there was too much filler. By that I mean when you get the air boat... That section is TOO GODDAMN LONG, same with the buggy driving section. And at the end when your in one of those prisoner transportation pod things, after about 5 minutes of floating around I was like "Ok... GET ON WITH IT"

Oh... And I HATED the friggin squads that followed you and would BLOCK EVERY FRIGGIN DOORWAY and sometimes i'd get stuck between two and they wouldn't move >.<

Can't wait to play HL1 for real (i've seen someone play the first 30 minutes of it before)

Dude just wait for Black Mesa: Source, it might be a while coming yet but sadly Half Life looks SO dated now. Plus it's free!

[thedonutman]

I always thought that HL1 made you feel isolated, It was just you + barney vs the world.

Whereas in HL2, even though a lot of it is still you vs combine, having people talking to you seems far more reassuring. And the outdoor ares are also far better.

[Naren]

Originally Posted by TheMissing

Unfortunately, at the time of writing my first post, I was on the second to last chapter

I peeked at the first 5 minutes of Episode 1, and then stopped, cause I was just curious to see where it was going. Later on tonite, i'm going to download the first one off of steam to my computer, before I continue on with episode 1.

I was just confused by things I had read in the wiki that didn't make much sense with what I was seeing in HL2.

HL2 was a great game. My only problem was there was too much filler. By that I mean when you get the air boat... That section is TOO GODDAMN LONG, same with the buggy driving section. And at the end when your in one of those prisoner transportation pod things, after about 5 minutes of floating around I was like "Ok... GET ON WITH IT"

Oh... And I HATED the friggin squads that followed you and would BLOCK EVERY FRIGGIN DOORWAY and sometimes i'd get stuck between two and they wouldn't move >.<

Can't wait to play HL1 for real (i've seen someone play the first 30 minutes of it before)

I thought Half Life 2 was almost perfect. My first time through the only part I didn't like was the motor boat/air boat, but on my second time through, I actually really enjoyed that part. The buggy driving sections were AWESOME. Just really really fun.

The transportation thing was excellent. It was a complete payoff. I guess for people who don't like the Half Life series, they might get irritated and be like, "OKAY! GET ON WITH IT!" but I think that people who are fans of the series found that last part with the transportation thing to be especially awesome. My three favorite parts of the game were: Ravenholm with the gravity gun, the desert/prison with the antlions under your control, and the last level with the powered up gravity gun.

And the overall pacing and balance in the game was pretty much perfect.

I think Half Life 2 crushes Half Life 1 big time... but I guess I'm just one of those people who thinks that HL2 was a big improvement on HL1 which was a great game.

[Korbain]

Originally Posted by Chris

You can't really compare Halo to Half Life, considering Half Life came out in 1998.

well, you took it out of context, i was comparing it too the hype, i should have worded it better, my bad. It was more whole "halo is the greatest FPS ever made!!!" when clearly it wasn't. And i put half life like that, what i said, great game, but not ground breaking to make it best FPS ever. It had a great atmosphere, the graphics were pretty solid (though i still think doom 3 had the better graphics in the ID vs Valve graphics battle thing), and the plot was ok (nothing special by any means). Was it revolutionary? no! Duke Nukem 3d, that was something special, doom 2, that was something special. Deus Ex, maybe not a full out FPS, but that was a FPS with a mad twist in it, prob the best game i ever played!

I try not too look at games as in "oh this was released 98, how can you can compare it to something more recent". A ground breaking FPS takes brains to create something unique, not evolving from something was good a few years ago and adding vehicles etc. Though in saying that, i see where you are coming from lol.

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

Were you playing video games in 1998?

dude, i been playing games since like, wolf 3d came out (maybe 3 or 4 years old ) lol. My dad got mad discounts on PC's and shit because he works for xerox, so i've grown up with PC's, and dad always got games from his mates at work. First games i ever played, wolf 3d, dangerous dave, the ninja turtles game *you run around and go down drains and shit lol* and some other random, 80's sorta looking action game, i can't member the name, but you had sunnies and shot big white bullets and had rockets n shit lol. I won't say i'm a nerd, but believe me, i've been a gamer for a mega long time, and proud of it watching something evolve from how it was say, 15 years ago, its fucking bullshit when you look back on it. So i get a bit passionate about this sorta stuff.

[goth_fiend]

all I have to say about episode 2 right now...fucking striders

[Mastodon]

Half-Life one felt like it droned on and on to me. I had to force myself to finish it.

I'm about halfway through Hl2 (just haven't had the time to do it) and I have ep1 and 2 waiting on me.

[sakeido]

Originally Posted by Korbain

well, you took it out of context, i was comparing it too the hype, i should have worded it better, my bad. It was more whole "halo is the greatest FPS ever made!!!" when clearly it wasn't. And i put half life like that, what i said, great game, but not ground breaking to make it best FPS ever. It had a great atmosphere, the graphics were pretty solid (though i still think doom 3 had the better graphics in the ID vs Valve graphics battle thing), and the plot was ok (nothing special by any means). Was it revolutionary? no! Duke Nukem 3d, that was something special, doom 2, that was something special. Deus Ex, maybe not a full out FPS, but that was a FPS with a mad twist in it, prob the best game i ever played!

I try not too look at games as in "oh this was released 98, how can you can compare it to something more recent". A ground breaking FPS takes brains to create something unique, not evolving from something was good a few years ago and adding vehicles etc. Though in saying that, i see where you are coming from lol.



dude, i been playing games since like, wolf 3d came out (maybe 3 or 4 years old ) lol. My dad got mad discounts on PC's and shit because he works for xerox, so i've grown up with PC's, and dad always got games from his mates at work. First games i ever played, wolf 3d, dangerous dave, the ninja turtles game *you run around and go down drains and shit lol* and some other random, 80's sorta looking action game, i can't member the name, but you had sunnies and shot big white bullets and had rockets n shit lol. I won't say i'm a nerd, but believe me, i've been a gamer for a mega long time, and proud of it watching something evolve from how it was say, 15 years ago, its fucking bullshit when you look back on it. So i get a bit passionate about this sorta stuff.

The original Half Life won countless Game of the Year awards and is the best selling PC shooter of all time. The second one is an equally huge critical success. We were talking about the first one here, not the second one, but I think you are talking about the second one now, comparing it to Doom 3. Doom 3 was, like most id games, an elaborate tech demo and it played as such. Half Life still looked great but actually had entertaining gameplay as well, and in the end is the one people are actually still talking about.

What did Duke 3D add to the genre? One liners and a cool protagonist... Doom 2 was just Doom 1 again. Half Life is the first game that really had a story, was very engrossing, had sweet gameplay, good graphics for the time, great enemy AI, some cool puzzles, it was the total package and up to that point and probably until System Shock 2 (which didn't have the widespread appeal of Half Life and its mods) it was the epitome of first person shooters.