Half-Life 1 - boooring...

[Xenome]

The first time I ever played...that was the time I was most impressed by a game..and still it is.

I like, and still like the WHOLE game..even Xen, because it adds up to the story.

You just have to be openminded when playing SP games..then everything that you must do is fun, because it add's up to the story.

I mean..do you think that freeman himself even liked to go to xen? :]

 

[Warbie]

When I first played HL my jaw nearly hit the floor. Never b4 had I been so immersed in a game, Golden Eye being it's only equal imo.

The alien bit was crappy tho ........ 3 times i've played the game till the Xen bit. Everytime stopping beofre the end. Still love it tho

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I don't see the trouble with Xen, I liked it. Of course, I liked the whole game.
The best part is when you spend the whole game blasting the alien slaves, but when you get to the xen manufacturing plant, they just ignore you. Very creepy.
Plus, it was pretty original that it was an entirely alien environment. It wasn't just like star wars, where they have "snow planet", "desert planet", "jungle planet", etc. This was some kind of bizarre living asteroid field in the middle of an oxygen nebula.

It was great how you could use alternative strategies to kill you enemies, like watching a battle and helping out whichever side is losing until both teams whittle down to nothing.
Or luring enemies into traps. I always try to trick the soldiers into getting barnacled, or bringing them into the rooms where you can activate a disintegration beam.
I've not yet encountered another FPS game that lets you do those sorts of tricks.
Plus, there was the fact that almost nothing in the game was presented in such a way as to distract from what is going on. No menu screen, no loading screens (beyond the little "loading..." symbol).

HL2 looks like it's going to be the same gameplay, only with everything that wasn't included before included now.
In HL1, you couldn't:
Drive the vehicles.
Pick up objects or toss them.
Do physics tricks that aren't unique set-ups.
Get your friends (or enemies) to climb ladders or enter vents.

Also, they've improved the graphics, AI, and increased the amount of enemies dramatically.
Still, large portions of the weapons, enemies and gameplay elements will be the same as the first one. Valve obviously isn't making a sequel where everything's completely new and different.
Valve's almost guaranteed to have slow, creepy scenes like in the original. So be careful for more 'boring' things. Plus, there'll be a ton of in-jokes from the first four games of the HL1 series that you won't get unless you actually play them.

I think moritz is right: If you didn't like HL1, you're more likely to enjoy HL2. But you still might not like it.

 

[PvtRyan]

I don't see the trouble with Xen, I liked it. Of course, I liked the whole game.
The best part is when you spend the whole game blasting the alien slaves, but when you get to the xen manufacturing plant, they just ignore you. Very creepy.
Plus, it was pretty original that it was an entirely alien environment. It wasn't just like star wars, where they have "snow planet", "desert planet", "jungle planet", etc. This was some kind of bizarre living asteroid field in the middle of an oxygen nebula.

I agree with you that Xen wasn't bad in any way, but if you just played the Black Mesa masterpiece, then Xen tends to be a little disappointing compared with the rest of the game. Especially for a part that needed to end the game, the ending was a bit disappointing. Although the train ride with the G-Man was cool again.

 

[Sui]

I think that it makes a HUGE difference on your opinion on the game depending on when you played it, as most, if not all of the people who love the story played the game when it first came out. i however played the game when i allready was playing half the brilliant games on my PS2, and for me the shine was somewhat rubbed off.
I can fully appriciate how half-life is one of the most amazing games ever made, its just that for ME, it never really stimulated me. I dont know why- probally just because the graphics were dated when i played it and i dont like the landscape. (i really really HATED black mese... so dark and boring... then when i escape, im in a barren desert, and in comparison black mesa seems a paradise...).
Its like Metal gear solid. I played it when it first came out and i LOVED it. same as everyone else back then. But people who, having played the brilliance of MGS2, come to it having not played it back when it was released, suddenly find it depressing and boring.
But mind you- hideo kajima found the perfect cure. MGS:TS, which i have recently purchased, is a sublime remake with everything MGS2 was famous for AND MORE. which brings to light an answer...

I think i heard rumours that HL was gonna be remade with HL2 phisics / graphics. im not sure if this is true, but if it is, valve could really go to town on it and create one of the best remakes ever.
we want HL remake!

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Half-Life remake in source?

That would be hella good!

They'd have to sell it cheap-ish though, as so many people already own #1 and would balk at paying a lot for (basically) the same game.
Then again, by current standards, HL is pretty small. Even the playstation 2 version managed to wedge in Decay, and that's at least 5 hours of gameplay in new levels.

With the original going for ten bucks in some places, they could sell the source-version as an expansion pack for around 20$, and I'd buy it.

In fact, the ps2 Half-life was already sorta a remake. Mostly just improved graphics, slightly altering some areas that were buggy in the first one so that they make more sense architechturally, and severely improving the wall medkits and HEV terminals in both function and design.

I don't know about the technical aspects of a conversion of HL files over to HL2, but I assume it would be relatively easy. Then it's just a matter of updating the textures, adding polies to the models and replacing some of the scripted sequences with physics-based actions instead. A mod team with support from Valve could get it done quick, skillfully and cheap.

 

[Voodoo_Chile]

Half-Life remake in source?

That would be hella good!

They'd have to sell it cheap-ish though, as so many people already own #1 and would balk at paying a lot for (basically) the same game.

Just like to point out MGS:Twin Snakes.Same game better graphics.(Havent pld it so dont know if there was a major departure in terms of gameplay)But its been priced as a new game.(£30 on Amazon.co.uk)

 

[Fender357]

I loved Half-Life and I still do. I've played it through 36 times.

 

[Mac]

love half life and sitll do.. played it through about 5 times.. incredible beginnig, middle and end.

 

[OCybrManO]

When I first started up Half-Life back in '98 I "What the hell is going on? Why I am stuck in a tram? I want to go kill something." (because of the Doom-like gameplay I was used to) then I started noticing all of the little details like the construction going on around me, the barney that locked himself (?) out on that platform, the way I wasn't given objectives and had to converse with the NPCs to find out what to do next, the way every character's mouth moved when he talked, the scripted sequences, etc. Most importantly, they weren't just a bunch of fancy features tossed into a "shoot 'em up." They all added to the feel of the game.

In a time when FPS games only got about as complex as Quake II in terms of gameplay and immersion... Half-Life's plot/gameplay was a startling, albeit very refreshing, change of pace.

To the people saying good graphics are a prerequisite for good gameplay: I would like to point out that Valve developed HL2's levels with plain orange textures to get the gameplay of the levels down before they added all of the textures and details. Also, the graphics-first priority goes against the fundamental rule of game design of one of the most successful developers in history, the man that almost single-handedly saved Nintendo in 1981 with Donkey Kong, Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto puts gameplay before everything (theme, graphics, sound, even plot) when he designs a game... and just take a look at his track record. That alone should be proof that gameplay is king.

 

[Fender357]

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What he said.......

 

[Kadayi]

It's strange. I find Half Life 1 boring. It's not that I am used to all of the new productions. I've had a weak computer for a long time, unable to play new games. I've got my current computer since december 2002. For me the gameplay (sorry if it's the wrong word, I mean the satisfaction you get from playing), not the graphic or the sound, matters the most. I play Counter-Strike which is on the engine of Half-Life and love it. Despite this I don't like HL's graphics (suppose it's the textures), but what bothers me the most is the fact that it has a weak gameplay for me. It's just boring, with few enemies what would be good if the game was frightening but it isn't. I am talking about the first hour(s) of HL when youre stuck after the strange explosion. I didn't manage to get any further because I was simply bored with the game.

Does anybody have the same problem? Or, maybe someone could tell me if its worth trying with HL again even if I'm so bored with the first parts of it? Anyway I'm looking forward to Half-Life 2 :cheese: . Hope it'll be as awesome as I imagine it :E

You should complete it in order to appreciate the sequel, ramp up the difficulty also if you are finding it boring.

 

[Texter]

but what bothers me the most is the fact that it has a weak gameplay for me

It's more that you play games using weak standards. But if you just like running around and shooting people that's what you should stick to.
Half Life is more subtle...and thus requires a sense of subtlety to play.
I find the gameplay in Half Life to be exquisite...

 

[XenoSpirit]

Oh yeah, when I first played through Half-Life it took over my life. When the credits rolled I dropped right back in again. It was a hell of an experience that was far more immersing that almost anything out there (at the time we were seeing Quake clones like Heretic etc).

dude thats like me when i 1st got hl (age 10 11 or whenever) evrey time i got done with school i just ran of fto the computer and started playing... still it was only going at 5frames cause it was on a slow 100 mhz but i loved it... it took over my life hahah and now.... with with my sexy 2.0 ghz P4 FX 5200 i love it... played it on 450 mhz to... my moms still got that 450... 1998 now as for Cstrike? i got banned a few weeks ago for hax0rin my cheats got out dated and im like WTF?!?! ne ways i can allways trade outher game keys like crappy Diablo keys and starcraft shiz... for a new Cstrike key... you just need the right stuff the get the stuff you want

 

[Murray_H]

dude thats like me when i 1st got hl (age 10 11 or whenever) evrey time i got done with school i just ran of fto the computer and started playing... still it was only going at 5frames cause it was on a slow 100 mhz but i loved it... it took over my life hahah and now.... with with my sexy 2.0 ghz P4 FX 5200 i love it... played it on 450 mhz to... my moms still got that 450... 1998 now as for Cstrike? i got banned a few weeks ago for hax0rin my cheats got out dated and im like WTF?!?! ne ways i can allways trade outher game keys like crappy Diablo keys and starcraft shiz... for a new Cstrike key... you just need the right stuff the get the stuff you want

Cheating and warez in the same post :thumbs:

 

[Direwolf]

And me.....uh, yay.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Um.. no .

 

[Sulkdodds]

Bah....Twin Snakes...Gamecube only....bah....

As for Half-Life.....does anybody else think it would have been better if there hadn't been a hazard course? That way you would have been learning as you went along.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I liked the Hazard course

Oh, and you can have races with your mates on the Hazard course when you're all drunk

 

[clarky003]

Hope it'll be as awesome as I imagine it

I can imagine the so called 'boring' first hours of the game, in style will be similar in HL2,, where you dont have any weapons for a while and are just walking around,, but the character interactions will be more intesting so perhaps it wont be as 'boring'.. but I thought the start to Half Life was intresting. which is what made me carry on playing it.

I guess your not really stopping to appreciate the sequence and what its designed to do , and what a bold new move it was by a games company and for most people that was one of the most definitive parts of the game... start and end. usually are.

 

[Kyorisu]

Loved Half-Life, I've only finished it once on Normal only becuase it scared the hell out of me unlike Doom/Quake which was a fragfest.

Some people like to run around and shoot things, personnaly when I first ran Half-Life on my p180 pro, Vodoo 2 combination I was rather pleased with the intro sequence it set the mood and made it seem like Black Mesa was an actual place rather than some imaginary Research Bunker where all hell broke loose

 

[Sai]

i think the best part about xen was that testicle wielding shelob
man i remember when this head crab lunged at me from like this vent..yea, i screemed

and i think the chapter "surface tension" kinda set the original blueprint for shooters today like halo

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I thought the hazard course was great actually...ive found that when you "learn whilst playing" it makes for a cheesy start to the game...For example it could have been.

"Ok Freeman, prepare the machine. You will have to limb up that ladder and push the button up there. To climb the ladder, you need to walk up to it and then look up while still walking forward. Then to push the button you will need to "use" it."

"Quick sir, get out of that room, you need to jump and duck to get past those oddly placed beams. Duck under the first one..."

etc etc


If there was one thing i always wanted out of halflife, it was the choice to escape or carry on. For instance, when you were on the surface, it would have been nice to have come to a point where you could go on to save the world or die trying, or you could escape from black mesa.

 

[Reven]

I like HL1 a lot, but it is boring, ive won the game like..15 times...half of the times i had cheats on just to have extra fun...

when HL2 comes out i might play HL1 first

 

[clarky003]

why not play it now,, lol.. or do u have bad short term memory...?

you dont win Half Life, Half Life wins you!, 'any argument with that, take it up with the G man'

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Maybe he is from Soviet Russia

 

[Vegeta897]

Maybe he is from Soviet Russia

You know, you can enhance the gameplay by playing it with others on Sven Coop. When I first got that I found new joy and played it another 2 times through. Thank God for Sven Coop.

 

[Unfocused]

OK, it's me the topicmaker. I played HL for a little more and finished it. It really gets better after a couple of hours. I liked the G-Man talk in the end

Do you know that there's something in G-Man's briefcase? Set the cheat for floating through walls and you'll be able to see the inside.

But unfortunately I lost a bit of my enthusiasm for HL2. They're just asking us to wait a bit long and there are other games coming up such as STALKER. While a year ago HL2 was something totally awesome, the other games are now closing in... But I thing the enthusiasm will come back when there will be just a few days till the release date (if it won't be delayed again). Oh and theres no release date for the time.

 

[Direwolf]

We're going to start seeing more new stuff coming out around the end of this month and towards E3 according to Valve, so I'm guessing the hype will once again build.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Ooh, what fun. When I said 'no hazard course' all I meant was...well, for basic movement they could do a Halo-esque calibration test (ie good, now you've got your hazard suit on, get used to the movements before you go down to the test chamber) and otherwise leave you to your own devices. It could alienate people...but then again most people would take about two seconds to work out the controls of Half-Life.