Do I need to play HL1 to appreciate HL2?

G

g911turbo

Guest
Ok, don't hate me... but I've never actually played through HL1.

Bought HL1 mainly to play CS (got addicted to it), and now bought CS:S and with that HL2.

Should I go back and play through HL1 BEFORE I play HL2? Is it necessary to play 1 to understand the story of 2?

And if I DO need to play HL1 first, when does HL1:source come out? Because if I did need to play, I'd rather play with the updated graphics engine...

Thanks for any opinions :)
 
Eh you don't have too, but would be a good idea to get the full fledged Half Life experience.
 
I think you should play it. Even though it's seven years old it's still very fun. But no, I think that you will appreciate and understand HL1 without having played HL2.
 
Yes, play HL1 first. It won't take too long and will help to answer any questions and gives a nice little intro into how things got the way they are in HL2.
 
Yes, go play it now :).

It will make you understand the HL2 story, and it will make you understand what HL is all about. Of course, the graphics are dated by now, but that should not be a problem, the gameplay is still as good as ever. In a week, you can just complete the game and both expansions :).
 
I would recommend you to play HL! Even though it's about 6 years old now it's still very playable! Don't mind the graphics and voices (they were always very distorted, why is that?) - just enjoy the story and the tough soldiers attacking you. If I was you I would hurry up and complete HL so you would understand what's going on in HL2
 
I asked a similar question and they all told me the same thing. I played it through and enjoyed it alot, well worth the hours. Maybe i should place OpForce or Blueshift one day...
 
g911turbo said:
Ok, don't hate me... but I've never actually played through HL1.


Should I go back and play through HL1 BEFORE I play HL2? Is it necessary to play 1 to understand the story of 2?

And if I DO need to play HL1 first, when does HL1:source come out? Because if I did need to play, I'd rather play with the updated graphics engine...
Click to expand...

Valve has said it won't be neccessary to have played HL1 in order to play HL2.. but as u asked in the title of this thread, is it neccessary to play HL1 to be able to appreciate HL2? i'd say so.

not sure when HL:Source will be available...but if i were u, i'd play HL1 first.
 
Play Half-Life 1 for sure. Playing Opposing Force would also a good thing to do, if you can squeeze that in before HL2 is released. LOL. But it's optional.

I even liked Blue Shift, though it's definitely the weakest of the three. And there isn't really anything in it that would help you understand HL2 much better. Though it was cool to play as Barney.
 
hl1 is so damn long :/
im sure he wont play hl1 before hl2
he'll get sick of hl1 at some point
 
HL1 is worth playing regardless if you want to know what happens before HL2, its simply a good game :D
 
Wow... thanks for all the replies, awesome.

Yeah at one point I started to play hl1 (about a few weeks ago) and stopped because I was unsure of when hl1:source was coming out.

I mean, I'm a firm believer in gameplay over graphics, but it's just a little painfull going back to 1995 with the new source engine out ;-)

If I knew for sure that hl1:source was coming out within say a week or so of hl2, then i would wait... play hl1:source, then play hl2

I'm in no hurry to play hl2 if it means getting a better experience overall (after all the game aint goin anywhere - here to stay i would say)
 
You shouldn't need to play HL1 to appreciate HL2. But getting a general overview over the story would be a good idea.
 
hl:source isn't going to give any better graphics or anything. it's just gonna add physics and ragdolls, i think. i'd just play hl1 now, it will help the time pass till hl2 comes out.
 
Play HL up to the Xen levels. The uninstall it from your hard drive to make way for HL2!
 
that's basically what i did. except i got tired of half life like 10 minutes before you get to xen so i just avoided the xen levels by luck :)
 
I played it through again a couple weeks ago, the graphics are pretty shoddy, but i still had a wicked time playing it. I doubt you'd need to play it to understand half-life 2, as there's little story to half-life, but i imagine there's alot of references to things that happened in it.

Also, as others have said, it may be years old, but the gameplay is still top notch.
 
play it you wont regret ^_^
might be old graphics but that also means you can use 16x af and 6x aa for example ^_^
 
Gabe said Half life 2 was for new comers to the game, and veterans who'd played through Hl1. Half life 2 will keep you up to date on what happened in Hl1, but.. I'd say go for it, cuz Hl1's a great game, even nowadays cuz of it's great storyline and well put together events.
 
Loomis said:
I played it through again a couple weeks ago, the graphics are pretty shoddy, but i still had a wicked time playing it. I doubt you'd need to play it to understand half-life 2, as there's little story to half-life, but i imagine there's alot of references to things that happened in it.

Also, as others have said, it may be years old, but the gameplay is still top notch.
Click to expand...
i agree, i have no idea why everyone says hl has such a great storyline. i didn't even notice a storyline. i guess my version of the game came storyline-free. but hl2 should have a nice, deep storyline even though it's shamelessly copying 1984 in every aspect. 160 pages of script will be interesting :naughty:
 
Half-Life is worth playing, but you have to keep things in perspective. It's a six year old game and many of its more revolutionary ideas have been shamelessly copied in games since, so don't expect it to feel fresh and unique like it did in 1998.

With that in mind, I think it still offers an excellent gameplay experience that rivals and in some ways surpasses even more recent games like Far Cry and Doom 3.

Playing it before the 16th will also get you up to speed on the story and characters, which I imagine will make Half-Life 2 a more compelling game.
 
I still rember the first time those marines appeared....

I wanted to join them and help kill my fellow co workers...

thank christ for operation flashpoint.
 
Play it, its fantastic, and dont stop at the xen levels either, play all the way through
 
Dougy said:
I still rember the first time those marines appeared....

I wanted to join them and help kill my fellow co workers...

thank christ for operation flashpoint.
Click to expand...
i helped kill my fellow co-workers anyway :naughty:
 
czrsink said:
Play HL up to the Xen levels. The uninstall it from your hard drive to make way for HL2!
Click to expand...

I liked Zen, jumping was no prob because of quick save, and it was nice to get a big change in setting. Just a shame there were no black-ops people around to have a bit of AI to play with round there. But other than that Zen didn't stand out as particullay bad or worth skipping for me
 
DrunkPanda said:
i agree, i have no idea why everyone says hl has such a great storyline. i didn't even notice a storyline. i guess my version of the game came storyline-free. but hl2 should have a nice, deep storyline even though it's shamelessly copying 1984 in every aspect. 160 pages of script will be interesting :naughty:
Click to expand...

The HL storyline wasn't THAT complex, at the first sight. But it was told extremely well, that's one thing. Second, if you took care to listen to what the different people said, later even played the expansions, etc., it really would be cohesive and come together.
 
Half lifes story was complex, it just wasnt given to you on a silver platter like most games, it was told in a much different manner.

Theres more to the story than what first appears, and although you may not notice at first, there are many, many questions and loose ends in there
 
Yeah and there will be somethings in HL2 that you will apreciate if you have played HL.
Go give it a try.
Come and thank us in a couple of days.
 
well, thanks for all the replies guys

looks like here is what i am going to do

pry myself away from cs:source for a little while and play hl1 with EVERYTHING all the way up, lol

should be interesting - i'll keep you posted on my impressions :)

thanks again
 
yeah, i was in the same boat. I missed playing the single player after I discovered the Multiplayer deathmatches of Halflife. That's all we every played at work.

Now I'm going through the SP and it's a blast. The gameplay and monsters are top notch.
 
g911turbo said:
Ok, don't hate me... but I've never actually played through HL1.
Click to expand...

I HATE YOU, GO PLAY IT NOW.

Wildboyz said:
hl1 is so damn long :/
im sure he wont play hl1 before hl2
he'll get sick of hl1 at some point
Click to expand...

HL1 was completed in 45min, i know ive seen the video :D
i just re-Played it a few days ago, took me about 5 hours :)
 
redrain85 said:
Play Half-Life 1 for sure. Playing Opposing Force would also a good thing to do, if you can squeeze that in before HL2 is released. LOL. But it's optional.

I even liked Blue Shift, though it's definitely the weakest of the three. And there isn't really anything in it that would help you understand HL2 much better. Though it was cool to play as Barney.
Click to expand...
If you want to play any HL game before HL2 i would recomend you play on Hard difficulty. It just widens the whole experience.
 
g911turbo said:
Wow... thanks for all the replies, awesome.
I mean, I'm a firm believer in gameplay over graphics, but it's just a little painfull going back to 1995 with the new source engine out ;-)
Click to expand...

1998!!
 
Play HL1 before HL2. I played it for the first time last year and grew to appreciate the game to the point where I am dying for HL1. Valve gets alot of crap for game bugs ect, but HL1 flat out knocked my socks off.

You have to play it to understand why it's so good.
 
g911turbo said:
well, thanks for all the replies guys

looks like here is what i am going to do

pry myself away from cs:source for a little while and play hl1 with EVERYTHING all the way up, lol

should be interesting - i'll keep you posted on my impressions :)

thanks again
Click to expand...

Don't forget to overwrite the vsync option in your graphics card's control panel. HL 1 doesn't have a vsync option and you get pretty bad tearing without it turned on. I just recently played through HL1 again and played the opposing force expansion for the first time. (I never bought it but Steam unlocked it when I registered my HL1 CD key, thanks Valve!) I overroad the application settings for everything and cranked it all up. I have to say that HL1 ages very well. The gameplay was still excellent and the graphics look good enough to not be too distracting.
 
If you are running out of time and havn't beaten it yet, finish it in god mode. you still get the story line and everything.
 
+1 that you need to play HL1 first. And I mean PLAY it. Not just running and shooting just to finish it asap.
 
hl:source isn't going to give any better graphics or anything

Won't it give the same graphical update as cs source did over cs?
 
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