TOG - The Older Gamers

Ned · 25th October 2009, 07:17 PM

OK you can stop throwing objects at me now..
..seriously that last 21" CRT monitor hurt!
..and no ganging up on me at a LAN!

I must have a problem (apart from the obvious ones).. I find the Half-Life series totally boring as discussed here..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned

...

Now.. I'm hearing the Half Life 2 thing again about how wonderful and balanced it is between story action and immersion. I know I'm seriously in the minority here but oh my god I find Half Life boring! I've tried several times to 'get into it' and it just fails me each time. I ended up giving my copies away. I did however purchase HL2 recently for under $10 from Steam to test play Synergy (which I'm yet to do, on list). Now, I'll try HL2 ONE MORE TIME. I'll devote a full Saturday day to it again and see how it goes.

...

HELP ME ENJOY HALF-LIFE

• do I need to complete the original to really enjoy the sequel?

-Why did YOU enjoy the Half-Life series?

-Please list you favourite Half-Life series game
Half-Life
Half-Life: Opposing Forces
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two

I have Half-Life 2 (willing to get the original etc).
I have food and coffee and water for a long gaming weekend.
I have an understanding partner.

What else do I need?
How can I enjoy this.. I feel as though I'm missing out!

wHiTeRaSTa · 25th October 2009, 07:42 PM

Not sure what it was that got me into it. I never played Blue Shift or Opposing forces (although now after writing this i might just duck back in time and play through them as well)

but i did play these games from the first HalfLife, then HL2, Ep1 then Ep2. So i bassically started at the very beginning and played through till the end. Playing that way will get you into the story line. Also it was quite a few years ago now that i played the first HL game and back then it was pretty well up there. Fire it up these days after playing games with DX10 and the likes will probably make you wonder what all the fuss is about. As for a fav out of the series, probably the first, but each one gave me hours of fun.

Up the difficulty, run around and use all the different weapons. The spider bait (cant remember the name of it now) was always one of my Fav's along with the gravity gun.

They're all just legendry games made for PC i guess. That's why to enjoy them these days you need to have an open mind to how old the series actually is now.....

Cheers.

Beavis · 25th October 2009, 08:07 PM

I think you will need to have a look at HL1,the graphics are dated but you will be able to follow the story from the start.I think the reason why I liked all of the games was it is not just a point and shoot game but you had to solve puzzles,find exits etc,sure there have been many games to follow using this idea,but when HL1 came out it just seemed to be way ahead of its time.
I would hate to think of the hours I have spent playing HL,both SP and MP

Unknown · 25th October 2009, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ned

Why did YOU enjoy the Half-Life series?

For me it's the story as much as anything - Episode Two had a cliff-hanger ending and I genuinely want to know what happens in Episode Three.

Episode One was "necessary" to continue the story, but game-wise it wasn't all that interesting. Episode Two was easily my favourite (yes, I'm one of the nutjobs who carried that damn garden gnome through the game to the rocket at the end!).

I've only played through the three Half-Life 2 games, haven't played the original Half-Life series - I'm waiting for the community-created Black Mesa project (due out later this year) to experience the earlier part of the story.

Drac · 26th October 2009, 12:58 AM

There's a lot of stuff layered into HL2 that you just won't notice if you haven't played HL1.

Chief · 26th October 2009, 01:23 AM

Op For is my favourite of the series, wish they'd make a sequel for it.

I did enjoy HL2 and eps 1 & 2, but only on the first play-through. I've tried to replay them but found it nowhere near as enjoyable, because I already know what happens. For a singleplayer FPS game I found the story surprisingly engaging, but that really is the only thing that kept me interested.

Still eagerly awaiting ep 3, though it seems it has the same release date as Duke Nukem Forever and Starcraft: Ghost

wHiTeRaSTa · 26th October 2009, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drac

There's a lot of stuff layered into HL2 that you just won't notice if you haven't played HL1.

Exactly

shock_ · 26th October 2009, 09:03 AM

You know it's okay not to get into a game that is popular with most people. Certainly no different to other forms of art / entertainment.

HL and HL2 are puzzle games wrapped in narrative and fps. As such, I reckon they are done very well. I believe people responded to Portal because it hit the same buttons. Have you played that?