Half-Life story

A

APTYP

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Well THIS is off-topic and completely unrelated to Fallout, but still...

Half-Life, I've been told by all gamers of the world, has brilliant, clever, unsurpassed story. The best one, the only one, the reason why HL is so fameous.

I didn't get it. Sure, sure, gov.conspiracy (X-Files ripoff), G-Man running around the base (X-Files ripoff), a scientist going postal on aliens and hostile military (that's just lame), huge Black Mesa facility (historical ripoff from Manhattan Project), militaries killing scientists (that's expected, making friendly militaries would be much better), helicopters, bombardment, jet planes (cool, but has nothing to do with the story), teleportation (first Doom story, then Doom2, then Quake, then Half-Life. Oh goody!)...

But if you dig the story, tell me why I'm wrong (or just say "What the hell is Half-Life???" and I'll buzz off)

Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
Half-Life story (spoils)

What you most likely didn't get is that the G-man was actually working for the aliens. And their forces were much greater then the ones you actually saw in Half-life and Xen. That's why at the end you're in a lose lose situation. You get the choice to work for them or die. You're right in thinking that the story wasn't that original. But the way it was told makes it so good.
 
hehehehe

I guess they were all awed by the fact that it actually HAD a story, no matter how corny.

Let's see... Wolfenstein: Break out of jail, kill all Nazis to get out. Very deep.
Quake: If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, kill it anyway. If it was a book, it would be a page-turner.
Quake 2: All your buddies bought it, so it's up to you to depopulate an alien planet. Ahhh... How complex and satisfying...
Quake 3: Realizing the storyline in Q1 and Q2 was too deep for the average Quake player, ID dumbed it down.
Unreal: First FPS to actually HAVE a story, and a pretty good one. It was corny but it was well enmeshed into the gameplay, enhancing it a lot.
Unreal Tournament: You actually need a story for that? OK, we'll give you something that might pass as a "story" if you don't look too hard, as in don't look at all.
Half-Life: An actual storyline... WOW!
 
I just liked the damn game because it was fun to play. Did you not like the game or just didn't like the story?
 
THe thing I like about UT is that it has so much variations in gameplay and much more. Plus, it has so many mods and such....

Plus Inoxx, one of the best map designers I know of. You know Face and FaceII? I asked him how to change the speed of the skybox.....I put it to about 6x the speed he had. He originally had it at 4x the speed, and people were complaining it was making them a tad ill. 6x, I am solely responsible for three ruined keyboards, the vertigo is that bad.
 
O-oh...

So that's these '...border world...' words meant! Oh, I get it now! He he... Not original, but at least it makes sense now. You sweated like a pig to kill 'em all, now either join or die! Not exactly like in X-Files, but only because you're a scientist with the gun, not whacko FBI agent.

Nice touch, but this seems the only good part. And what about the way story is told?

1-Freeman gets late to work to A.M.Labs
2-Accident pulls Black Mesa through a hasher, there're zombies and aliens everywhere.
3-Freeman goes up until he meets military elimination squads - and guess what! He goes up anyway!
4-Freeman is captured and almost gets killed.
5-Freeman finally gets to teleportation device that sends him to Xen.
6-He kills Nyhilanth and meets G-Man who tells him the truth.

That was already done in Doom 2, my friend. There is NO STORY until the last moment! Opposing Force addon, on the other hand, has the story that is very good in the beginning, but as it goes to the end it gets more and more idiotic (especially last guard's monologue).

Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
>hehehehe
>
>I guess they were all awed
>by the fact that it
>actually HAD a story, no
>matter how corny.
>
>Let's see... Wolfenstein: Break
>out of jail, kill all
>Nazis to get out.

Actually, it's just the first episode. In other episodes, you have to stop killing hybrids, stop gas war, stop Hitler... But it all ended up in mindless shooting and running in blocky mazes.

>Very deep.

No kidding.

>Quake: If it moves, kill it.
> If it doesn't move,
>kill it anyway. If it
>was a book, it would
>be a page-turner.

Story for Doom 1 was about 2 pages in volume (50% introduction in readme.exe), in Doom 2 - 2 lines! When id saw people complaining about atrophied stories in games, they gave in and made story for Quake .5 pages in volume, and to compensate it they made it a real piece of shit. Marines, teleportation stuff, made-up creatures from Lovecraft... Cheers!

>Quake 2: All your buddies bought
>it, so it's up to
>you to depopulate an alien
>planet. Ahhh... How complex
>and satisfying...

Intro sets up the mood, and then 'mission pager' was supposed to do the trick. No way-it sucked. But at least the story was better than that in first Quake...

>Quake 3: Realizing the storyline in
>Q1 and Q2 was too
>deep for the average Quake
>player, ID dumbed it down.
>

...As well as traditional singleplayer. Wake up, Carmack, deathmatch is not hip anymore!

>Unreal: First FPS to actually
>HAVE a story, and a
>pretty good one. It
>was corny but it was
>well enmeshed into the gameplay,
>enhancing it a lot.

There was a story, but I had a hard time understanding the details. Prison ship crashed at habitated planet rich in rare mineral and enslaved by evil aliens?

>Unreal Tournament: You actually need a
>story for that? OK,
>we'll give you something that
>might pass as a "story"
>if you don't look too
>hard, as in don't look
>at all.

Still better than in Q3A.

>Half-Life: An actual storyline... WOW!
>

'Storyline'?! Bullshit! Look for my previous message

Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
Game had its flaws - for example, MP5 sucked as a weapon and I used it only because it was the only one with plenty of ammos around Black Mesa. Thankfully, they were very insignificant. Yeah, I liked the game, and story was OK, but I was amazed at the fact people praised HalfLife for its story!

Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
Half life was good for certain parts. For example.. the computer scene. The lights are dark, the computer's flashing.. guy in chair.. you turn him around, and there's a "face-grabber" (what I call 'em) stuck on him. That was like a movie.

But I didn't like it. Then again, I haven't liked basically any computer game since Fallout.. except for Doom way back..

There wasn't enough interaction for me. You take one guy on your team, he opens a door for you, and then he "can't go any further". It repeats itself several times. That was just about the only human interaction (social) I saw (but I only got halfway.. so there probably was more).

I don't like a game where you're killing things, and there's not much of a plotline. It's just.. killing. I got bored by the halfway point, and put it down.

I didn't play the whole game, so don't all start ganging up on me or anything. It was just an opinion of mine.
 
RE: O-oh...

>So that's these '...border world...' words
>meant! Oh, I get it
>now! He he... Not original,
>but at least it makes
>sense now. You sweated like
>a pig to kill 'em
>all, now either join or
>die! Not exactly like in
>X-Files, but only because you're
>a scientist with the gun,
>not whacko FBI agent.
>
>Nice touch, but this seems the
>only good part. And what
>about the way story is
>told?
>
>1-Freeman gets late to work to
>A.M.Labs

Right.

>2-Accident pulls Black Mesa through a
>hasher, there're zombies and aliens
>everywhere.

Correct, but Freeman still has no idea what happened. He knows a resonance cascade has happened, but he has no idea where the aliens are coming from.

>3-Freeman goes up until he meets
>military elimination squads - and
>guess what! He goes up
>anyway!

What was he supposed to do? Wait around til the military comes down to kill them? Not Freeman's style. He's a man of action.

>4-Freeman is captured and almost gets
>killed.

Ok, the batman sequence was cheesy. But it was fun too.

>5-Freeman finally gets to teleportation device
>that sends him to Xen.

Correct.

>6-He kills Nyhilanth and meets G-Man
>who tells him the truth.

Not exactly. What you say is true, but you've missed alot of the "between the lines" stuff. Like what the Black Mesa experiment was really about and who gave the assignment. The whole experiment going wrong was planned by the aliens. And now there's a breakthrough in teleporting technology the universe is ready to be conquerred by them. Ok, like I said it's not original, but it's better than the stories in the other shooters you mentioned.

>That was already done in Doom
>2, my friend. There is
>NO STORY until the last
>moment! Opposing Force addon, on
>the other hand, has the
>story that is very good
>in the beginning, but as
>it goes to the end
>it gets more and more
>idiotic (especially last guard's monologue).

Gotta admit that. The ending was too soon and a bit cheesy. Still I really enjoyed Opposing Force as well. But what was so good and new about those games is that they really made you feel like you were Gordon Freeman or Adrian Shepherd. You weren't some unknown soldier who was sent to hell to kill demons like the space marine in Doom II. The characters in Half-Life had personality. Half-life almost had roleplaying elements (as far as that's possible with linear shooters). That's why I still consider it the best shooter I ever played.
 
>Half life was good for certain
>parts. For example.. the
>computer scene. The lights
>are dark, the computer's flashing..
>guy in chair.. you turn
>him around, and there's a
>"face-grabber" (what I call
>'em) stuck on him.
>That was like a movie.

Definitely one of the best moments in first-person shooters' history.

>
>
>But I didn't like it.
>Then again, I haven't liked
>basically any computer game since
>Fallout.. except for Doom way
>back..
>
>There wasn't enough interaction for me.
> You take one guy
>on your team, he opens
>a door for you, and
>then he "can't go any
>further". It repeats itself
>several times. That was
>just about the only human
>interaction (social) I saw
>(but I only got halfway..
>so there probably was more).
>

As team members, scientists are just emergency medikits and "blue keycard, red keycard, yellow keycard". Security guards can shoot stuff and open doors sometimes. Sometimes scientists and security guards reveal vital (and not so vital) information. Not much, eh?

>
>I don't like a game where
>you're killing things, and there's
>not much of a plotline.
> It's just.. killing.
>I got bored by the
>halfway point, and put it
>down.
>

Exactly. Too much killing for a scientist.

>I didn't play the whole game,
>so don't all start ganging
>up on me or anything.
> It was just an
>opinion of mine.


Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
Did you ever try having two Barneys (security guards) by your side? Man, those two talking to eachother cracked me up. The game did have humor :-).
 
RE: O-oh...

>>So that's these '...border world...' words
>>meant! Oh, I get it
>>now! He he... Not original,
>>but at least it makes
>>sense now. You sweated like
>>a pig to kill 'em
>>all, now either join or
>>die! Not exactly like in
>>X-Files, but only because you're
>>a scientist with the gun,
>>not whacko FBI agent.
>>
>>Nice touch, but this seems the
>>only good part. And what
>>about the way story is
>>told?
>>
>>1-Freeman gets late to work to
>>A.M.Labs
>
>Right.
>
>>2-Accident pulls Black Mesa through a
>>hasher, there're zombies and aliens
>>everywhere.
>
>Correct, but Freeman still has no
>idea what happened. He knows
>a resonance cascade has happened,
>but he has no idea
>where the aliens are coming
>from.

Player knows. Info is all over the box and on Internet banners. Plus, in a flash following the cascade Freeman finds himself for a couple of seconds in Xen.

>
>>3-Freeman goes up until he meets
>>military elimination squads - and
>>guess what! He goes up
>>anyway!
>
>What was he supposed to do?
>Wait around til the military
>comes down to kill them?
>Not Freeman's style. He's a
>man of action.
>

He's a scientist, man! Remember, he was reluctant to join Black Mesa team because he was afraid he would be a part of weapon research! What happened to him, and where's the suitable explanation? Or are we supposed believe that a scientist found no other option to getting out of compound than killing everything?!

>>4-Freeman is captured and almost gets
>>killed.
>
>Ok, the batman sequence was cheesy.
>But it was fun too.
>

We've seen it in Dark Forces, Duke Nukem3D and some other games. I'd say it's a bit used up. But the trash compactor part was good.

>
>>5-Freeman finally gets to teleportation device
>>that sends him to Xen.
>
>Correct.
>

Oh, btw, WHY did he go to that extremally dangerous place?! To save the humanity?! Alone?! Logical, but used up hundreds of times.

>>6-He kills Nyhilanth and meets G-Man
>>who tells him the truth.
>
>Not exactly. What you say is
>true, but you've missed alot
>of the "between the lines"
>stuff. Like what the Black
>Mesa experiment was really about
>and who gave the assignment.

You mean aliens decided to destroy laboratory complex? For what? A "breakthrough in teleporting technology"? All right, maybe it was worth it.

>The whole experiment going wrong
>was planned by the aliens.

Suspected that from the beginning, when the computer blasted right to Gordon's face and scientist made a comment about strange malfunctions.

>And now there's a breakthrough
>in teleporting technology the universe
>is ready to be conquerred
>by them. Ok, like I
>said it's not original, but
>it's better than the stories
>in the other shooters you
>mentioned.
>
>>That was already done in Doom
>>2, my friend. There is
>>NO STORY until the last
>>moment! Opposing Force addon, on
>>the other hand, has the
>>story that is very good
>>in the beginning, but as
>>it goes to the end
>>it gets more and more
>>idiotic (especially last guard's monologue).
>
>Gotta admit that. The ending was
>too soon and a bit
>cheesy. Still I really enjoyed
>Opposing Force as well. But
>what was so good and
>new about those games is
>that they really made you
>feel like you were Gordon
>Freeman or Adrian Shepherd. You
>weren't some unknown soldier who
>was sent to hell to
>kill demons like the space
>marine in Doom II. The
>characters in Half-Life had personality.
>Half-life almost had roleplaying elements
>(as far as that's possible
>with linear shooters). That's why
>I still consider it the
>best shooter I ever played.
>


Homepage http://members.xoom.com/russiandude/APTYP.html
 
If you only got halfway through the game then you missed what in my opinion, is the best level in the game:Surface Tension. Lambda Core was also quite good. I didn't like Xen though. Did anybody? Actually, the best thing about Half Life is TFC.
 
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