I wasn't a big fan of Half-Life 2 either. Certainly it did do some nice things, but it didn't feel revolutionary to me. I actually did not like the physics in it, they seemed off, and as such the gravity gun was kinda over-rated as far as innovation goes. I also did not like how movement felt very digital, it felt very much like you were either moving full speed or not at all. Graphically, it looked more realistic than the overly shiny/plasticky Doom 3 and Far Cry, but there was something about the graphics that bothered me (probably its the fact that I really like visuals that are more stylistic than realistic).
Its not just the gaming pc its the work and everything else pc. And yes, I fear the nasty creepy crawly things and virtual headcrabs that might emerge from the scary system of tubes. Also prefer not to have to bog the thing down with firewalls anti virus scanners and anti adware programs.
But as I keep saying, the main problem with Steam was that I didn't want to pay a small fortune for broadband just to install one game! Had no other reason for net access at home, already had it at work, but for some unaccountable reason employer didn't approve of installing games on work computers. Broadband cost has since plummeted though.
Fenixgoon
Lifer
- Jun 30, 2003
- 31,584
- 9,966
- 136
perosonally, i thought HL2 was good, but not epic. why? there was no sense to it all. you are beamed into city 17, and you have to escape. you go through tons of different places, saving and rescuing people, with no real objective. the direction that was present in the first, i felt the second lacked. now in episode2, they really expanded the storyline/lore of the HL universe, and that TOTALLY sucked me in.
Actually it seems to perk up after the speedboat levels. Once I've gotten adjusted to old school FPS linearity again. The trouble with the outdoor parts is that it just invites comparison with those games (Oblivion, Flashpoint, even project igi) that have entirely open areas, you can't help but notice you are really still stuck in corridors by any other name and if you look where you shouldn't you'll see the world ends just out of your view.
Also for too much of it you don't really know where you are going or why you are going there. Could do with a map or mission briefing screen or something. You end up going a particular direction merely because the game forces you to do so, with no idea why. The Freeman character seems to know more about what's going on than you do, which is annoying.
But yeah, it isn't bad overall, some decent puzzle elements. They did an OK job of developing the original HL storyline.
Also for too much of it you don't really know where you are going or why you are going there. Could do with a map or mission briefing screen or something. You end up going a particular direction merely because the game forces you to do so, with no idea why. The Freeman character seems to know more about what's going on than you do, which is annoying.
But yeah, it isn't bad overall, some decent puzzle elements. They did an OK job of developing the original HL storyline.
Dumac
Diamond Member
- Dec 31, 2005
- 9,391
- 1
- 0
The Half-Life 2 character models look far better than Oblivion character models. In fact, a lot of Half-Life 2 looks better than Oblivion, even though Oblivion came out almost two years later. not to mention Oblivion has a poor excuse for a story and gameplay, especially when compared to Half-Life 2.
I understand not liking Half-Life 2 because it doesn't live up to it's predecessor, but saying it doesn't live up to Oblivion doesn't sit well with me.
I understand not liking Half-Life 2 because it doesn't live up to it's predecessor, but saying it doesn't live up to Oblivion doesn't sit well with me.
To be fair, the Oblivion comparison is really just about the open nature of the Oblivion world vs the on-rails linearity of HL2. That also relates to the graphics, there's just that many more things visible in Oblivion and depicting a consistent world is more graphically impressive than just having a facade, the way FPSs traditionally do. I agree Oblivion needed more and better stories to populate that world properly. To some extent it was a horrible underuse of a well created world.
As I said though, HL2 seems to pick up greatly as it goes on and as I readjust to FPS linearity. Looking forward to Episode 1 now.
You're playing a game with 3.5 year old art assets. You do realize the most powerful card available when the game launched was a GeForce 6 series, right?
I imagine Doom would probably be a bit of a letdown if you gave it a spin right now as well.
In this thread, we compare a linear story driven FPS named Half-Life 2 to an open world RPG named Oblivion. Later on I plan to compare puzzle quest to world of warcraft.
Golgatha
Lifer
- Jul 18, 2003
- 12,651
- 1,514
- 126
Man, turn in your gamer card nao!!!
Seriously, you dog HL2 and then say Oblivion needed more and better stories. Hell, some of the side quests in Oblivion had more and better stories than some full games.
Also, whoever mentioned Riddick EFBB; I totally agree, it was a graphically stunning game (for it's time) and had a great story. One of the most underrated games ever IMHO.
- Aug 22, 2001
- 28,498
- 20,618
- 146
I played it a couple years ago with a obviously older version of FF, and I thought it did make the game better. The one headshot kill with the pistol change the whole game for me.
I have to agree.
HL2 was good, i enjoyed it playing through it. What i did like about it was how the over all story has to be pieced togather as you travel through the game.
I finally just finished playing Ep 1 and 2. Ep1 was just kinda 'meh' not good, not bad just ok. Now ep2 I absolutely loved: It had great pacing, fleshed out the world more, and the action fantastic. The last battle was the most fun I've had in an FPS (single player) in a loooooong time. I hope Valve can do the same thing for Ep3 - and not take 2 years to do it.
I loved HL2. I know it's extremely linear, but that didn't detract from the overall experience to me. I was really sucked into the story. City 17 felt like Chernobyl, somehow.
Ah, that would be a valid argument _if_ it wasn't Valve's own fault that I'm playing it so late.
Given that it was _their_ decision to make installation net connection dependant at a time when only a minority of the population had broadband (we don't all live in the US) I think its perfectly fair to judge it by today's standards.
Also given that it still stutters occasionally with an 8800gt, I dread to think how it played with mid level cards when it was released. Web search for solutions to stuttering suggests defragmenting my 500GB drive every time I update Steam. Yeah, right, as if I'm going to do that.
Do you have any reason why one _can't_ make such a comparison? Open world environments are clearly graphically more demanding, but they make for a more immersive world IMO.
Blimey I can't win. I concede a point to someone who dislikes my praising Oblivion and someone else is annoyed by my criticising it. Fact is the Oblivion world, while great just to explore, was a bit underpopulated. Not enough non-generic things to do IMO, at least not if you are using a levelling slowing mod. Some decent stories, sure, but just not enough of them. I can understand why as creating complex content is very time consuming, but thats what I like to see in any future elder scrolls game, not so much technical improvements but a lot more story content.
Really? Googling returns masses of posts on many forums about the 'infamous HL2 stuttering problem', something to do with the texture loading process. But, funnily enough, just installed the fake factory texture pack and not only does it greatly improve the textures but the stuttering seems to have gone or greatly reduced at least. Perhaps if it did have something to do with disk fragmentation of texture files.
msi1337
Diamond Member
- Apr 16, 2003
- 7,818
- 67
- 101
wow!
I don't know where to start. Everyone who is bashing Half Life 2, you are sadly mistaken. The game features some of the richest storyline, plot twists, and the most fun I have had with a game since Link to the Past on SNES. I consider HL2 to be one of my favorite games of all time.
I especially like HL2 Episode 2, the graphics are better, the story is amazing, and it adds an element of suprise (kinda like F.E.A.R did).
I feel sorry for those who aren't giving this a chance. Go get yourself an ATI 4850, turn the resolution to the max for your monitor, turn all the graphical settings up to max..then tell me you still don't like it.
Oh, and same goes for Portal..amazing fun
I don't know where to start. Everyone who is bashing Half Life 2, you are sadly mistaken. The game features some of the richest storyline, plot twists, and the most fun I have had with a game since Link to the Past on SNES. I consider HL2 to be one of my favorite games of all time.
I especially like HL2 Episode 2, the graphics are better, the story is amazing, and it adds an element of suprise (kinda like F.E.A.R did).
I feel sorry for those who aren't giving this a chance. Go get yourself an ATI 4850, turn the resolution to the max for your monitor, turn all the graphical settings up to max..then tell me you still don't like it.
Oh, and same goes for Portal..amazing fun
HL2 was pretty disappointing to me as well. I got bored with it after a while and never finished it. I did really enjoy the first sections of the game when you are escaping. Those parts made me feel like I was there. But after the first part, it got old. Oh well....
Strange I have a 8800GT and play at 1600x1050 everything MAXED and get zero stutter, sounds like an issue with your system not the game.
Just finished this game last night. I bought it right around the time it came out, and I was personally blown away. I really felt like I was in the world. The audio/sound effects were awesome, really set the mood. There were some scares, shocks, etc. At the time the water effects and the graphics in general were pretty amazing to me. I'm still quite pleased with the graphics, though I will admit I've never played any of the most current FPS games (Crysis, BioShock, etc.)
All that being said, I got to the "Anticitizen One" chapter, and kinda lost interest for whatever reason. I made a habit of that unfortunately. I'd start playing these top-tier FPS games and get pretty far in, but just kinda go ADD on them. Finally playing this game again recently, and I enjoyed the whole experience, from start to finish. I played on "Normal" difficulty, and found certain parts reasonably challenging.
I got the Half-Life 2 Episode pack (Eps 1 & 2) a month or two ago for $5 at Circuity City, so I plan to play both of those shortly. I'm pretty eager to continue the storyline =)
Playing this on a 8800GT 512MB, Opteron 165 @ 2.0GHz, 2 gigs RAM, xp sp3 32-bit. Runs great =)
All that being said, I got to the "Anticitizen One" chapter, and kinda lost interest for whatever reason. I made a habit of that unfortunately. I'd start playing these top-tier FPS games and get pretty far in, but just kinda go ADD on them. Finally playing this game again recently, and I enjoyed the whole experience, from start to finish. I played on "Normal" difficulty, and found certain parts reasonably challenging.
I got the Half-Life 2 Episode pack (Eps 1 & 2) a month or two ago for $5 at Circuity City, so I plan to play both of those shortly. I'm pretty eager to continue the storyline =)
Playing this on a 8800GT 512MB, Opteron 165 @ 2.0GHz, 2 gigs RAM, xp sp3 32-bit. Runs great =)
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