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Revisiting HL2

V

VIAN

Diamond Member
While trying to troubleshoot a problem on my cousin's computer, I revisited HL2. I stopped playing a bit before getting to the air-boat. I didn't think much of the game when it first came out, but now I think even less of it. For it not to be able to withstand the test of time.

There is very slow paced in the beginning, with practically no action, that is made worse by all the long and often loading times therein. And even after getting a gun, the game presents no challenge on Normal. See one guy, kill him, see another guy kill him. Just a little test before the game throws you back into another slow area of the game. At this point, I just stopped playing the game. Too much talking with no content, and no action. I got impatient.

I remember the game being slow in the beginning, but not like this. I remember the good action being in the 2nd half of the game. But do I have to endure all this talking just to get there. I can't skip anything. Then the action. There is no satisfaction from killing the enemies. Seriously.. they can't aim and you can. But when shooting it doesn't really feel like your hitting them. The impact isn't there.

After being disappointed, I thought about how Valve F'd us over with promising all these things and they never happened. I went to Fileshack.com and DL'd the HL2 E3 2003 video and things were certainly different. Gabe said that in HL2 you'll never be alone, showing battles on the streets.. with Barney. That didn't happen until near the end of the game. It showed story elements and interactivity never encountered in the release. Enemies and levels there didn't appear. Aggressive AI that never made it.... Then if you download HL2 DX9.0 effects video, you get to see these nice HDR effects in the game that still to this day were never implemented.

I just can't help but feel ripped off, even to this day. It just seemed like it could've been better. I think I might try and finish HL2 at my own computer to get a better perspective on the whole game. If you've gone back to HL2 recently, what did you think about it?
 
Well, I'll tell you this...

HL is shiz compared to HL2. 😀

At least be happy it wasn't HL!
 
I haven't gone back to it, but I feel pretty much the same as you. I think it's a poor follow up to the original. I did like Episode 1 expansion better though. I got it free with a gfx card purchase, but almost gave it away due to personal boycott of Valve. I'm glad I didn't. The graphics were better imo, and the puzzles were more inspired. It still wasn't the most action packed game around, but I found it very fun.
 
Originally posted by: Kromis
Well, I'll tell you this...

HL is shiz compared to HL2. 😀

At least be happy it wasn't HL!
Click to expand...
Nooooo. HL is awsome! Period.

I beat HL for the first time in 2004 before HL2 came out and I thought it was great. And that was 6 years after release.
 
Download the HL2 substance mod. It makes things a lot faster paced and funner. I started playing HL2 again recently and found it really boring playing again. The Substance mod makes it almost an entirely different game.
 
I liked HL much better than HL2, but I still think the latter is a quality product, just nothing groundbreaking. Actually, when it comes to 2004-era shooters, I thought Doom 3 was highly underrated, and HL2 just the opposite.
 
I've never been challenged by a single game on "Normal". When I want challenge I bump the difficulty to Insane/Realistic/whatever is hardest for said game. Kind of a lame reason to knock a game. Personally I thought the AI was impressive compared to everything before it. The gravity gun was a lot of fun, the graphics were beautiful, and overall it was a really enjoyable game. My only complaint would be that it was a little short. No game ever delivers 100%, especially landmark games like HL2.
 
Originally posted by: VIAN
Originally posted by: Kromis
Well, I'll tell you this...

HL is shiz compared to HL2. 😀

At least be happy it wasn't HL!
Click to expand...
Nooooo. HL is awsome! Period.

I beat HL for the first time in 2004 before HL2 came out and I thought it was great. And that was 6 years after release.
Click to expand...

Lol, well...

Maybe I was a graphics whore at the time, or even now...

I keep trying to get into Baldur's Gate, even though people keep saying its really good!
 
Originally posted by: DonVito
I liked HL much better than HL2, but I still think the latter is a quality product, just nothing groundbreaking. Actually, when it comes to 2004-era shooters, I thought Doom 3 was highly underrated, and HL2 just the opposite.
Click to expand...
Ummmmm, no.
Even if Doom 3 were a good game, it was NOT underrated at all.
It got more hype and advertising than many movies.
And for those of us who thought it wasnt a great game (many of us actually) it was one of the most overrated video games of all times.

As for the original issue, I think they were trying to hard to make it like Half Life 1. The opening sequence especially made me feel that.
They were trying to recreate the same experience as the first one and they forgot that we already played that game. Its not special when we've seen it before.
We needed a new experience to be entertained and we didnt get it, hence the major disappointment by fans everywhere.
As was already pointed out, the cool sequences took too long to get to and werent long enough or good enough when we got there.
The big street battles were saved untlil the very end and most people didnt make it that far. They got tired and either gave up or enabled god-mode and just blasted through quickly.
 
HL2 was overall the most boring game I have played in several years. It hardly got anything right for the first nine or ten levels; the main issue I had was the horribly linear and repetitive level design that was nearly devoid of any details, and the thin story and generic combat just made it a chore to go through them. It was a pity, as the last couple of levels were much more well designed, but you had to sit through all the dreary levels before them to get to that point. I thought the graphics were also quite underwhelming in comparison to Far Cry and Chronicles of Riddick, although I wouldn't have cared about that if the game had been good otherwise.

I replay games all the time that I consider to be good (I'm currently going through Battlezone for the fourth or fifth time), but given how much trouble I had mustering the will to complete HL2 the first time, I certainly won't be going back to it. Episode 1 might be better, but I don't think I'll be taking a chance with it given my limited gaming time these days.
 
It sounds like most of the discontent is from it being "boring." I found the world interesting to explore and most of the dialogue entertaining. The dull parts for me, were the forced tedious scripted attack/defend segments. Those felt like playing a rail-shooter where dumb enemies keep swarming you while you pick them off while trying not to run out of ammo.

I found myself thinking, "Now, that's just !#%! cool," quite often during the game, and enjoying the vast majority of it. It gave enough leeway for some ingenuity with puzzles or scripted action segments, and had some excellent OMFG sequences.

If I had to say any part of the game was inferior (especially after comparing to other FPS games), it would be the vehicle portions... way too damned long for very little reward in terms of enjoyment. Then again, I like adventures, RPGs and other games typically thought of as boring, so I'm a bit biased towards dialogue and narrative.
 
I thought it was good, but nothing special. The worst bit for me was how linear the whole thing was. The physics in the game certainly helped to make things more interesting, but other aspects of gameplay let it down - the AI was pants (seemed to be WORSE than HL1) and it's still yet another game where you can't even blow doors and walls with powerful weapons. And then there's those loading pauses every 3 minutes.
 
Originally posted by: DonVito
I liked HL much better than HL2, but I still think the latter is a quality product, just nothing groundbreaking. Actually, when it comes to 2004-era shooters, I thought Doom 3 was highly underrated, and HL2 just the opposite.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
I was a HUGE fan of HL, probably played through it 10 times or more, even many years after vastly superior(in terms of tech) titles were out.
HL2 never did much for me though, I liked some parts of the boat levels(though in all fairness, I hated some other parts), and Ravenholm was kinda cool mostly.
I can't really put my finger on why, but HL had "it", while HL2 completely lacked "it".

In hindsight, Doom III was better in my eyes, but Far Cry easily beat both of them, and HL1 on the other hand easily beats Far Cry 🙂
 
Originally posted by: VIAN

I just can't help but feel ripped off, even to this day. It just seemed like it could've been better. I think I might try and finish HL2 at my own computer to get a better perspective on the whole game. If you've gone back to HL2 recently, what did you think about it?
Click to expand...

i never bothered to revisit it ... i felt that way when i first played it .... and to this day i could never finish Ch1 which is much more *boring* ... more GG and more *stupid puzzles*.

it is an *above average* shooter ... nothing groundbreaking ... except for the overused GG it REtreads HL1 ... buggy as hell when first released .... and the Source Engine is still a shadowless ssstuttery PoS --compared with ANY modern game engine

i guess i am bored with FPS ... PREY is boring also
 
I liked HL2 quite a bit, except for the vehicle portions.

Then again, I can't objectively compare it to HL1, since I never played that one when it came out (though I did play it all the way to the end a few months ago when I bought it via Steam).

 
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