I'll recount my experiences with other games I played recently and try to explain how it will or will not affect my HL2 experience.
I noticed that when I recently played and finished Doom 3 I did not get as much subtle details of the 'story' and environment as others, for instance I didn't notice the bloody footsteps in the 'took my baby' corridor. There are lots of other subtle things going on in Doom 3 that I missed because I think Unreal Tournament and Counter-Strike turned me into a run-and-gun type of player.
I don't blame UT or CS, as they're both fine games, but I was way too busy running around dark corridors shooting hordes of demons in Doom3 to be paying attention to my surroundings. It seemed to me that the gameplay consisted way more of running, shooting, backtracking and more shooting than having a storytelling element.
Also, the ingame cinematics and cutscenes didn't really frighten me. I read forum posts of people who thought the lost soul appearing out of that female operator was plain sick and disgusting - I just saw it in gameplay terms: the introduction of a new sort of enemy, and that's all.
Well, moving the thread on to HL2: VALVe say that the game pacing of HL2 will not be faster than HL, which would mean, to me, that:
- I will get all the time I need to plan a firefight, this makes it way more satisfying because you actually can have a plan instead of being triggerhappy at everything that moves in dark corridors and having to react to an enemy appearing in front of your face. Admittedly, HL did have those alien slaves appearing through portals, but they never appeared directly in front of your face and almost never behind you.
- The story will be told in sequences that will make you pay attention. Of course there'll be lots of subtle clues scattered around the HL2 maps, but I suppose the main part of the story will be in some moodier, slower paced scenes so you can pay attention to the story instead of 3 barons-of-hell around the corner.
I hope that HL2 will succeed in making me investigate my surroundings and the subtle story clues. I would hate it if I was constantly forced to be aware of enemies (re)appearing in areas I deemed safe. Half-Life meant to me being able to go back and collect some more ammo you left behind, and to go back for recharging at an HEV station in case you needed it most.
What are your opinions on this? Will HL2 force the run-and-gunner to slow down for optimal enjoyment, even on the harder difficulties? As I said, I expect combat to be intense but I hope to relax and look around quietly in-between them. I also think the physics interactions will make the strolling and wandering in HL2 much more enjoyable.
I for one would love a new game that made me look into it, instead of trying to get it over with as soon as humanly possible. Of course, it also depends on yourself as the player.
I noticed that when I recently played and finished Doom 3 I did not get as much subtle details of the 'story' and environment as others, for instance I didn't notice the bloody footsteps in the 'took my baby' corridor. There are lots of other subtle things going on in Doom 3 that I missed because I think Unreal Tournament and Counter-Strike turned me into a run-and-gun type of player.
I don't blame UT or CS, as they're both fine games, but I was way too busy running around dark corridors shooting hordes of demons in Doom3 to be paying attention to my surroundings. It seemed to me that the gameplay consisted way more of running, shooting, backtracking and more shooting than having a storytelling element.
Also, the ingame cinematics and cutscenes didn't really frighten me. I read forum posts of people who thought the lost soul appearing out of that female operator was plain sick and disgusting - I just saw it in gameplay terms: the introduction of a new sort of enemy, and that's all.
Well, moving the thread on to HL2: VALVe say that the game pacing of HL2 will not be faster than HL, which would mean, to me, that:
- I will get all the time I need to plan a firefight, this makes it way more satisfying because you actually can have a plan instead of being triggerhappy at everything that moves in dark corridors and having to react to an enemy appearing in front of your face. Admittedly, HL did have those alien slaves appearing through portals, but they never appeared directly in front of your face and almost never behind you.
- The story will be told in sequences that will make you pay attention. Of course there'll be lots of subtle clues scattered around the HL2 maps, but I suppose the main part of the story will be in some moodier, slower paced scenes so you can pay attention to the story instead of 3 barons-of-hell around the corner.
I hope that HL2 will succeed in making me investigate my surroundings and the subtle story clues. I would hate it if I was constantly forced to be aware of enemies (re)appearing in areas I deemed safe. Half-Life meant to me being able to go back and collect some more ammo you left behind, and to go back for recharging at an HEV station in case you needed it most.
What are your opinions on this? Will HL2 force the run-and-gunner to slow down for optimal enjoyment, even on the harder difficulties? As I said, I expect combat to be intense but I hope to relax and look around quietly in-between them. I also think the physics interactions will make the strolling and wandering in HL2 much more enjoyable.
I for one would love a new game that made me look into it, instead of trying to get it over with as soon as humanly possible. Of course, it also depends on yourself as the player.
