Most Mediocre Video Game Character

Samon said:
There isn't supposed to be. You are Gordon Freeman.
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I am not a videogame character. Gordon Freeman is. Gordon Freeman does not speak about his beliefs, ideas, how he managed to take down an entire alien invasion, his background, etc. I may be Gordon Freeman, but Gordon Freeman isn't me.

Granted, I'm also including Adrian Shephard, in case any of you are thinking this is Freeman hate. Shephard has the same amount of character as Gordon = None.
 
And let's not forget Barney, although I GUESS since he was a character you actually communicated with in Half-Life, he doesn't really count.
 
Slacker said:
And let's not forget Barney, although I GUESS since he was a character you actually communicated with in Half-Life, he doesn't really count.
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I still think it would've been funny if in Blue Shift when you died, you became one of the other Barneys in the general area in Black Mesa. There must've been at least 100+ in HL1. :p
 
Samon said:
There isn't supposed to be. You are Gordon Freeman.
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Well then I can't begin to start listing the things I find wrong with myself, then. If theres one thing I hate, it's when people don't ask questions. Yeah, I do like the character, but if I was him, I'd be asking boatloads of questions to people.
 
TheAntipop said:
Well then I can't begin to start listing the things I find wrong with myself, then. If theres one thing I hate, it's when people don't ask questions. Yeah, I do like the character, but if I was him, I'd be asking boatloads of questions to people.
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Yeah. It takes a real man to wake up in a train arriving in some Post-Apocolyptic 1984-esque city after being in a coma for ten years and not saying anything about it.
 
TheAntipop said:
Well then I can't begin to start listing the things I find wrong with myself, then. If theres one thing I hate, it's when people don't ask questions. Yeah, I do like the character, but if I was him, I'd be asking boatloads of questions to people.
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Yey, lets bring down the narrative.
 
HL2 is not an rpg, if I was allowed to totaally create my own avatar then I would not have minded him not saying a thing, but you know what Gordon was given a background, people do talk to him, they joke with him. And him not saying anything just pulls me out of the game instead of in it, I like many others do not mind assuming the roles of different badasses, even if I am not like them in real live. imo Gordon Freeman does not work as a char.
 
Yes, because he isn't a character as such. Gordon works perfectly, and it's how characters should work. Gordon's thoughts aren't ahead of the players, he knows no more or no less than you do, you are on the same wavelength and discover as he discovers. You truly are Gordon Freeman. Everything important and part of the story has been seen by you and Gordon. You know no less than him, you've seen everything that has happened as he does.

It works, and it's the best to tell a story within a videogame.
 
It's not just the non-talking, it's just the sillyness I found of him. A scientist that is suddenly some sort of SAS/Royal Marine underneath. I'm going into uncharted territory now, but at least with Barney and Adrian it worked as... well, they were fighters who knew weapons and stuff.

I don't know. When I think of Gordon Freeman, I see a completly grey sillouette of a man holding a gun, not saying anything, just mindlessly wandering around from A to B killing people because of some SUPAPOWURD suit he is wearing. He also comes across as a pawn to me. ''Hey, go here to do this and this and kill everything!'' - Why would you NOT ask any questions? I mean, when I get told to go somewhere in school I usually ask ''So thats room [number] and thats Mr. [teachers] class, right?'' Gordon just seems like ''Ok! Show me the door!'' except... without the talking. :| He just doesn't do anything for me.
 
The lumbering chunk of wood you try to control in the Gothic series.
 
Gordon freeman and Adrian Shepard are cool in the same way that darth maul was cool, and none of them talk :-P. The worst game character ever was probably....you
 
theroadtonowhere said:
Gordon freeman and Adrian Shepard are cool in the same way that darth maul was cool, and none of them talk :-P. The worst game character ever was probably....you
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Except Darth Maul did talk :p Darth Maul was a sub-par character because he was just a pawn. He just looked cool.

I think the whole suspension of disbelief fell apart in HL2 for me in one of the driving levels (the buggy). There were hundreds of questions any human would've asked. If I'M supposed to be Gordon Freeman I want my actions and personality to have some effect on the path the game takes. Instead this time I became a disembodied arm with a gun that questions nothing of the craziness around it...
 
AmishSlayer said:
I think the whole suspension of disbelief fell apart in HL2 for me in one of the driving levels (the buggy). There were hundreds of questions any human would've asked. If I'M supposed to be Gordon Freeman I want my actions and personality to have some effect on the path the game takes. Instead this time I became a disembodied arm with a gun that questions nothing of the craziness around it...
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The true genius in the storytelling pivots around the fact that Gordon doesn't talk. Suspend your belief for a moment. I don't want to ask questions because you simply learn as you go, and that is where alot of the fun comes from. I don't want the linearity of HL to change either, it's so well crafted. I enjoy linear games as much as I enjoy non linear games. Strict path? Fine by me - so long as I have fun.

Gordon talking and asking questions would be totally shit.
 
Samon said:
The true genius in the storytelling pivots around the fact that Gordon doesn't talk. Suspend your belief for a moment. I don't want to ask questions because you simply learn as you go, and that is where alot of the fun comes from. I don't want the linearity of HL to change either, it's so well crafted. I enjoy linear games as much as I enjoy non linear games. Strict path? Fine by me - so long as I have fun.

Gordon talking and asking questions would be totally shit.
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It would have been nicer if valve gave you more freedom because Freeman has no personality and is supposed to be you, that way the immerson would have been better.

Now I like many other really do not feel like gordon freeman, but I do feel like Sam Fisher or Ratchet.

Valve always gives very little away of the story, they could have made it so that if you for example pick up a photo and show it to someone they tell you story, you know a lot of things that reward curiosity and imput from the player. We can never feel like gordon if we are not allowed to shape him to our image, since he has no personality of his own.

If he had no backstory, and we could have had more freedom on to what gordon is then it would have worked, But now we are forced to play as a scientist that does not ask any questions. If anything asking questions is what players want, they want to find out more, they want to help, they want to shape their own destiny, GF is the opposite of the man behind the screen, how can we ever be GF.

Now I know not everybody wants to ask questions, but if they do not want they do not need to do so right, HL is mot MGS you are not forced to watch movies, you can just steamroll ahead.
 
kupoartist said:
Because he'd inevitably start making shitty wise cracks every second. And we're back to John Dalton again.
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Not really. Everyone else in Half-Life 2 has good dialogue, why would Gordon be any different?

EDIT:

Samon said:
The true genius in the storytelling pivots around the fact that Gordon doesn't talk. Suspend your belief for a moment. I don't want to ask questions because you simply learn as you go, and that is where alot of the fun comes from.
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Thats the thing though; Valve have created this game that touches the surface of being life-like with all physics, interaction, people, sounds, etc (save the entire sci-fi plot and such yadda yadda) but then it comes down to this guy that doesn't say anything in a situation when a real person would say something. It takes me away from the game that amazes me and makes me think ''No... that's just right, no one would do that'', etc.
 
TheAntipop said:
Not really. Everyone else in Half-Life 2 has good dialogue, why would Gordon be any different?

EDIT:



Thats the thing though; Valve have created this game that touches the surface of being life-like with all physics, interaction, people, sounds, etc (save the entire sci-fi plot and such yadda yadda) but then it comes down to this guy that doesn't say anything in a situation when a real person would say something. It takes me away from the game that amazes me and makes me think ''No... that's just right, no one would do that'', etc.
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But what if the personality that Valve impresses on Gordon is the one that you don't like? What happens then?

Do you want Planescape: Torment-ish dialogue, where you choose what and who and why he is? Do you want Halo, where what you say doesn't mean a thing? Or do you want Half-Life 2, where you don't say a damn thing and the story unfolds around you?
 
That guy from Farcry. It's the voice acting that does it.
 
Gray Fox said:
Valve always gives very little away of the story, they could have made it so that if you for example pick up a photo and show it to someone they tell you story, you know a lot of things that reward curiosity and imput from the player. We can never feel like gordon if we are not allowed to shape him to our image, since he has no personality of his own.
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Wait, did you play the game? Pick up a photo and show it to someone, and then they explain some of the story. Which is exactly the same as what happens in Eli's lab when you walk over to the photo, the clipboard, the teleporter, and glass jar and several other different things. The same happens in Episode 1 and through countless parts of Half-life 2. It does reward the player for curiosity. Sheesh.

You are supposed to be Gordon Freeman as though you are him. The fact that he doesn't talk is so that you discover the world as you play. You put things together yourself. When I see Alyx, I feel I have a relation with her, not the character and I. I, as Gordon Freeman.

If you don't like the fact that he doesn't talk, and never will, pretend he's a mute. Sorted.
 
Jintor said:
But what if the personality that Valve impresses on Gordon is the one that you don't like? What happens then?

Do you want Planescape: Torment-ish dialogue, where you choose what and who and why he is? Do you want Halo, where what you say doesn't mean a thing? Or do you want Half-Life 2, where you don't say a damn thing and the story unfolds around you?
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I don't do anything. I go on disliking that and all is well. It's pot luck, but I trust Valve would make him good, as with the other characters.

It's not the personality or anything, it's just the points in a game where you don't say anything which just isn't humanly right. To me, the character as people have said, it just doesn't. feel. right. Like when Alyx says that no one goes to Ravenholm anymore... why? Why does no one go to Ravenholm? What happened? I'm intrested, as common intrest is a basic function we go through day to day. Well, I do anyway.
 
Samon said:
Wait, did you play the game? Pick up a photo and show it to someone, and then they explain some of the story. Which is exactly the same as what happens in Eli's lab when you walk over to the photo, the clipboard, the teleporter, and glass jar and several other different things. The same happens in Episode 1 and through countless parts of Half-life 2. It does reward the player for curiosity. Sheesh.

You are supposed to be Gordon Freeman as though you are him. The fact that he doesn't talk is so that you discover the world as you play. You put things together yourself. When I see Alyx, I feel I have a relation with her, not the character and I. I, as Gordon Freeman.

If you don't like the fact that he doesn't talk, and never will, pretend he's a mute. Sorted.
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The tidbits of info we get from approaching objects in the game are like 15 seconds long. We get an extremely general background on what happened to a planet that we disappeared from for years. These little tidbits we get are just back-story to the combine (like how everybody says, ooh, the combine must've drained the water because look at the beaches and beached boats - hooray Nancy Drew, like that means anything to me) and none of it really develops the current plot. I wanted more info on what was going on and HL2 never gave me the info (we were sent traveling for at least 60% of the game - "Get to this lab, oh wait, go to the other, oh wait, make your way to the prison" - Gordon's involvement in the game meant so little) and neither did EP1.

It's also interesting that Gordon's so-called friends don't really care where he's been for YEARS and don't question it when he just magically shows up. It's one thing for Gordon not to ask questions (because you all think it's so much better for the game to tell your character what is going on and have your character be a side-act to everything), but why can't the characters in the world ask questions? And I don't mean how people say, "Gordon Freeman? Where have you been?" and then just move on to other things...

When I see Alyx's interactions with Gordon I don't feel I have any kind of relationship with her. I feel like she's nuts about a retarded mute "scientist" (the only scientific thing we've seen him do is push a cart into a beam after turning on some rotor thing) that I'm forced to play.

Even if we pretend Gordon is mute it still doesn't make him human. There's still hundreds of things any human would do that Gordon doesn't.

EDIT: Btw antipop, if your run your ass all the way down that tunnel to the gate to Ravenholm, Alyx will chase you and give you a 15 second explanation. I can't remember specifically because it was so short and general. I think she said it was shelled by the combine but I can't remember if she said why.
 
AmishSlayer said:
The tidbits of info we get from approaching objects in the game are like 15 seconds long. We get an extremely general background on what happened to a planet that we disappeared from for years. These little tidbits we get are just back-story to the combine (like how everybody says, ooh, the combine must've drained the water because look at the beaches and beached boats - hooray Nancy Drew, like that means anything to me) and none of it really develops the current plot.
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That is ONE example out of hundreds within the game, seamlessly told within the environment. It also shows the Combine are draining the Earths resources, told in a way which isn't told to you face to face, it's simply the player taking everything in.
The current plot? Umm, yes it does. You've arrived on Earth after 20 years, and as you play you take in the world around you - what has happened is part of the plot.

AmishSlayer said:
I wanted more info on what was going on and HL2 never gave me the info (we were sent traveling for at least 60% of the game - "Get to this lab, oh wait, go to the other, oh wait, make your way to the prison" - Gordon's involvement in the game meant so little) and neither did EP1.
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Did you actually play the game? Gordon's involvement was integral to the plot. The very plot pivots on his actions. The story is told flawlessly within the enviroment, and the details you are given are sufficient. Infact, there's a huge amount of it.

AmishSlayer said:
It's also interesting that Gordon's so-called friends don't really care where he's been for YEARS and don't question it when he just magically shows up. It's one thing for Gordon not to ask questions (because you all think it's so much better for the game to tell your character what is going on and have your character be a side-act to everything), but why can't the characters in the world ask questions? And I don't mean how people say, "Gordon Freeman? Where have you been?" and then just move on to other things...
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Again, I question whether you've played the game, because you really don't seem to be picking up on any of the plot whatsoever. I very much doubt they are going to ask where you have been when they already know. It sounds to me as though you've run through once and came out the other end without actually taking in a jot of detail. There goes that point.

AmishSlayer said:
When I see Alyx's interactions with Gordon I don't feel I have any kind of relationship with her. I feel like she's nuts about a retarded mute "scientist" (the only scientific thing we've seen him do is push a cart into a beam after turning on some rotor thing) that I'm forced to play.
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Forced to play is a very stupid term. You are forced to play any character in a game. Perhaps if you'd taken in the details like you have clearly failed to do you would understand why she is 'nuts' about Gordon.

AmishSlayer said:
When I see Alyx's interactions with Gordon I don't feel I have any kind of relationship with her.
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Can't you form your own opinion, or do you need a character there to do it for you? The very idea is that you are Freeman. Not that the character you are playing has a different opinion to you, but that YOU, as Gordon Freeman form an opinion of your own, one that is unified because you aren't set apart from the character.

AmishSlayer said:
Even if we pretend Gordon is mute it still doesn't make him human. There's still hundreds of things any human would do that Gordon doesn't.
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Suspend your belief? :|
I've never played a character in a game where I HAVEN'T questioned his judgement. I play Metal Gear solid, and I wonder why the dialogue is so awful, and that I'd really never hear or see anyone on this planet speak like that.

AmishSlayer said:
EDIT: Btw antipop, if your run your ass all the way down that tunnel to the gate to Ravenholm, Alyx will chase you and give you a 15 second explanation. I can't remember specifically because it was so short and general. I think she said it was shelled by the combine but I can't remember if she said why.
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"Run your ass down the tunnel." It isn't exactly a mile; she is simply feeding your curiosity. Can't remember if she said why? What, do you need spoon-feeding? It was clearly shelled for a glaringly obvious reason.
Your gripes seem to centre on the fact that Gordon isn’t sat down and spoon-fed by the characters. They believe Gordon is up to date.
 
Samon said:
Did you actually play the game? Gordon's involvement was integral to the plot. The very plot pivots on his actions. The story is told flawlessly within the enviroment, and the details you are given are sufficient. Infact, there's a huge amount of it.
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What did Gordon do that an organized resistance couldn't?

Again, I question whether you've played the game, because you really don't seem to be picking up on any of the plot whatsoever. I very much doubt they are going to ask where you have been when they already know. It sounds to me as though you've run through once and came out the other end without actually taking in a jot of detail. There goes that point.
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Where do the characters think you've been? It's been a while since I've played it (I played once on release and that's it - I didn't even want to play it again). All I remember is they think you're up to speed on all the events because they assume you've been living somewhere in the world when you actually just disappeared.

Forced to play is a very stupid term. You are forced to play any character in a game. Perhaps if you'd taken in the details like you have clearly failed to do you would understand why she is 'nuts' about Gordon.
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I say "forced" because that's how it felt to me. When a player is supposed to BE the lead char I think it'd help if some actions the player has control over would affect the world in some way rather than just incite small comments on the past or objects in the world. I also never said I didn't see why Alyx likes Gordon, I just said I felt nothing in return. That's probably because I already felt a lack of connection with the game world overall. Why would it be any different with one of the characters?

Suspend your belief? :|
I've never played a character in a game where I HAVEN'T questioned his judgement. I play Metal Gear solid, and I wonder why the dialogue is so awful, and that I'd really never hear or see anyone on this planet speak like that.
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I did suspend my disbelief for as much as I could (in one of the buggy driving sections I lost it). It came to a point there where I was just sick of all the stupid stuff going on around me. The game felt like it was happening around me but I didn't feel like a part of it (even the dialogue scenes didn't help that feeling - you'd be standing there listening to people talk and they'd walk into you and shove you to the side as if you weren't there - in another note, Firefox doesn't know the word, "dialogue").

"Run your ass down the tunnel." It isn't exactly a mile; she is simply feeding your curiosity. Can't remember if she said why? What, do you need spoon-feeding? It was clearly shelled for a glaringly obvious reason.
Your gripes seem to centre on the fact that Gordon isn’t sat down and spoon-fed by the characters. They believe Gordon is up to date.
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I was annoyed with the child-like actions I had to make in order for characters in the game to tell me tidbits of info. The fact Alyx says, "We don't go there anymore" about Ravenholm obviously peaked my curiosity. But since I Gordon can't ask why and I can't ask why, the only way for me to get an answer is to run down the tunnel to the door and wait there. It's like a child running and pointing at something of interest until their parent comes to explain it to them. I just don't like the feeling.

Obviously the reason they think Gordon is up to date is because he/I can't tell them anything that has happened in the past. They just think he's been doing nothing special, just being inactive, in the world behaving like any normal chump (which goes completely against the picture we painted of Gordon in HL1).

Can't you form your own opinion, or do you need a character there to do it for you? The very idea is that you are Freeman. Not that the character you are playing has a different opinion to you, but that YOU, as Gordon Freeman form an opinion of your own, one that is unified because you aren't set apart from the character.
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I DO form my own opinion and THAT'S the problem. None of my personal opinions I form as Gordon can be translated into the game.
 
AmishSlayer said:
What did Gordon do that an organized resistance couldn't?
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Organized resistance is a little out there. Gordon is unstoppable, he's different to them, he's more than human in his abilities.

AmishSlayer said:
Where do the characters think you've been? It's been a while since I've played it (I played once on release and that's it - I didn't even want to play it again). All I remember is they think you're up to speed on all the events because they assume you've been living somewhere in the world when you actually just disappeared.
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They know where you have been, they all do. I think if you played again and listened to dialogue you'd find a great deal of layers in there. There's more depth than there appears to be, which is daunting for the average gamer but it's a wicked way of storytelling, and a very workable one.
 
Gordon's a hero.

heroes are important.

thats why he's integral to the resistance.
 
Gordon's only important as a symbol. All the resistance would have to do is tell everyone Gordon's here. The Resistance, I believe, could've taken down Breen and the Citadel all by themselves. Gordon need not apply. Gordon represents their hope and that's really the only good thing I can say about Gordon. Without Gordon, the resistance would've likely fell sooner or later. But it's not just because its Gordon. Barney could've accomplished all the objectives you achieve throughout HL2. It's simply because of what Gordon represents, what he did at Black Mesa. That's all. He inspires the revolution. Hell, he could've died shortly after Nova Prospekt and it wouldn't have mattered. He sparked hope and revolution. The rebels don't need Gordon anymore.
 
You're taking my words too literally. I'm saying the rebels don't need Gordon to "win." Gordon has already inspired them to take up arms.
 
Not Gordon because I am Gordon & I am not mediocre. With that being said, Gordon Freeman is not mediocre. I am him & he is you.

MC is mediocre character. I would've said Breen because he was originally intended to be put on a life support system to give him eternal life or imortality, some thing along those line's...but since Breen isn't no to that.


MC=Master Cheif
MC=Mediocre Character
 
Marco said:
Speaking of Breen, I think that he is easily the best non-stereotypical / non-clichéd (in a negative sense) villain that I've seen in a game yet. Not to forget that he utters some of the best lines of dialogue (which are integrated well into the play of the game) that I've heard in a game yet. He is certainly not a shallow character, either. He has a history as the administrator of Black Mesa, although this is only hinted at in the first game. He's an intellectual person and a person of reason, although his reasoning seems morally wrong to us. There's even more to him, but at the end of the day one certainly isn't left thinking that he's an average villain.

I have to wonder what kind of antagonist those who think that Breen is mediocre expected in his stead? An end-of-level boss who pops a monocle and shoots laser beams out of his eye at you? Thank your god of choice that we've got Breen instead!
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Half-life 2, although I felt the linearity of the game really ruined the game play, had some excellent dialogue (especially Breen's TV speeches).
 
Gordon :p

But eh...Azurik from some old xbox game..god that was horrible. "Im training, and you are my friend we are both training. OH NOES YOU IZ NOW CORRUPTED AND YOU KILLED MAH MASTAH! I MUST NOW CONQUER THE 60000 ELEMENTS THAT WE JUST MADE UP TO DEFEAT YOU!"

Oh and I used to think MC was pretty medicore too until I read the books. You get more backround info on the spartans and just halo in general that makes the game alot more enjoyable...of course this is HL2.net so I probably should've expected MC's name to popup :|
 
Masterchief and his lame fanboys.

I like Carver.....he can...***n...fast.
 
KaMaKaZi-BLiTz said:
With that logic your saying that you are mediocre because YOU are Gordon & he is you & you are him.
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What? No im not. By your logic your stupid.

What im saying is he has no personality. I realize that we are supposed to be gordon's personality when we play as him, but god damn I'd like to know what Gordon Freeman would say or do in such a situation.

edit: Because I happen to like the character Im a fanboy? :| Stfu.
 
You like the character yet he's mediocre? o_0
 
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