The Story is Ridiculous.

Illegal Amigo

Illegal Amigo

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HL2's story is obscenely ridiculous. It does nothing to identify who the combine are, why they're on Earth, etc. The game offers no backstory. Half-Life 1 overcame this by being "normal" before Gordon opened the portal to Zen. In Half-Life 2, you start on a train with the G-Man telling you to wake up. If he can take you all over the universe, why can't he tell you what's going on?
 
Don't think too much about it, you'll never enjoy anything if you do, just go along with it.
 
Nope.

Numerous hints in the game, from Breenscreens, character dialogue, etc, give you the idea that the Combine soldiers are just that: human soldiers, and that the real Combine are aliens somewhere else that you don't see for ages. In Eli's lab, there's a noticeboard which basically tells you everything: how the Combine got there, etc. Eli comments on it when you look at it.

Seeing as the seas are being drained and so on, it seems fairly obvious that the Combine want resources...as well as scenes in Nova Prospekt that show Combine Soldiers as modified humans...which means the Combine collect characteristics kinda like the borg...which also means they want new genetic material.

There are explanations - you just have to A. look for them and B. figure things out from the few clues you're given.
 
Sulkdodds said:
There are explanations - you just have to A. look for them and B. figure things out from the few clues you're given.
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yep.
Valve certainly don't like to spoon feed their fans everything ;)
 
I'm quite sick of seeing people not looking for a storyline. VALVe ain't just gonna feed you..You gotta come up with the ideas on how to get the food, then you can eat, young grasshopper.
 
Hmmm, well, the lack of information certainly keeps it interesting.
 
Skaadi said:
Hmmm, well, the lack of information certainly keeps it interesting.
Click to expand...
don'y you mean "well it sure is intersting when you don't pay attention to the details and clues" ?
 
I actually found that the way Valve told the story was alot more memorable then most games as you actually had to LOOK for the story, much like the original game, only more so with Half-Life 2. The little tid-bits you pick up from the Vortigaunts and Breen's speeches provide much more insight then simple 2 minute cutscenes that most games have. It really immerses you
 
It is all in the things you could miss if you weren't paying attention, like how the water level is obviously far, far too low, with all the beached boats, piers far above the waterline, etc.
 
Epsi said:
It is all in the things you could miss if you weren't paying attention, like how the water level is obviously far, far too low, with all the beached boats, piers far above the waterline, etc.
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i wonder what that could mean...
 
it was told just as if that happened to you for real, you wouldnt be told whats going on, everyone would assume you know,, and there fore it makes for a more realistic plot.
 
I don't know why this was brought up at all. The storyline is only part of the game; the whole damn thing is fictional and that's it. Perhaps someone can invent a game based on Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind(Damn good film) or Love Story..aahhh! and maybe, Brief Encounter, that's a good storyline for romance, love, suspense,etc. C'mon, enjoy the ridiculous story and start killing, that's how I look at it. After a hard day at work you can get a bit psychotic and start killing your enemies and imagining you're killing the people you hate at work. That's quite stress relieving. Maybe I could get off with Alyx....well, that's going too far.
 
topic starter is still right though... hl2 doesn't explain any of the questions raised in hl1 and instead it just raises a whole bunch of new questions...
 
Sulkdodds said:
Nope.

Numerous hints in the game, from Breenscreens, character dialogue, etc, give you the idea that the Combine soldiers are just that: human soldiers, and that the real Combine are aliens somewhere else that you don't see for ages. In Eli's lab, there's a noticeboard which basically tells you everything: how the Combine got there, etc. Eli comments on it when you look at it.

Seeing as the seas are being drained and so on, it seems fairly obvious that the Combine want resources...as well as scenes in Nova Prospekt that show Combine Soldiers as modified humans...which means the Combine collect characteristics kinda like the borg...which also means they want new genetic material.

There are explanations - you just have to A. look for them and B. figure things out from the few clues you're given.
Click to expand...


What he said.

Your moaning because your not being spood fed. I for one love how Valve told the story...searching for the story yourself, putting the pieces together.
 
Illegal Amigo said:
HL2's story is obscenely ridiculous.
Click to expand...

It's no different from the countless others out there about invaders from another dimension/planet.

Illegal Amigo said:
It does nothing to identify who the combine are,
Click to expand...

They are aliens from another dimension who use teleportation to get here (as revealed in the chapter Black Mesa East).

Illegal Amigo said:
why they're on Earth, etc.
Click to expand...

They came here during the portal storms; a side-effect of the disaster at Black Mesa. They've taken control of the entire planet and are stealing Earth's resources for themselves.
Not only is this told to you in briefly in many of the chapters, this is also revealed through observations when you're on the Coast, Citadel, and in the end segment of Ravenholm.

Illegal Amigo said:
The game offers no backstory.
Click to expand...

Much of the backstory comes from Half-Life 1. The rest is given to you as you progress through the game.
  • The first chapter showed you what life is like under Combine rule.
  • The second chapter gives you info on the villian Breen.
  • The fifth chapter explains why the Combine are here and why Breen came to power.
  • The final chapters provide even more incentive to Breen's motives and that of the Combine.
...

Illegal Amigo said:
Half-Life 1 overcame this by being "normal" before Gordon opened the portal to Zen.
Click to expand...

Half-Life 2 is a direct continuation of Half-Life 1. If Half-Life 2 started out as "normal", the first game would loose it's flair. Making it easy to dismiss as not essential to the overall story other than to introduce characters (like many are sying about the expansion packs :P).

Illegal Amigo said:
In Half-Life 2, you start on a train with the G-Man telling you to wake up. If he can take you all over the universe, why can't he tell you what's going on?
Click to expand...

By not revealing the motives behind your return, the G-Man keeps his aura of mystery and the plot is able to evolve as you progress. If the G-Man just came out and bluntly said:
"I've brought you 10-odd years into the future so you can battle the Combine, destroy their main base, and eliminate interm administrator of Earth, Wallace Breen",
the story wouldn't be that interesting. It's one of the main elements of great storytelling, instead of explaining what's going to happen, let the audience experience it as it happens.

For the first four chapters, you have no real idea as to who the Combine are or why they are here. You as the player are kept guessing until chapter 5, Black Mesa East, where you are brought up to speed. In the previous chapters, Breen even explains more as to their motives through his Breencasts and public announcements.

:cheers:
 
your an idiot, i suggest you read Lawrics own texts and do more research about it.
 
I also love the way VALve told the story, I just wish there was a bit more of it! (I wanna know how Eli , Kleiner and Barney got out of BMRF for example, and hot they got to City 17. These things wouldn't be easy to tell with VALVe's storytelling style, but dagnabbit, I wanna know it none the less!)
 
AJ Rimmer said:
I also love the way VALve told the story, I just wish there was a bit more of it! (I wanna know how Eli , Kleiner and Barney got out of BMRF for example, and hot they got to City 17. These things wouldn't be easy to tell with VALVe's storytelling style, but dagnabbit, I wanna know it none the less!)
Click to expand...
Don't we already know how Barney got out of BM?? (Blueshift) and Kleiner probably hid until he could get out... Eli got a ride with a bullsquid.....

About going to City 17... barney is the only one in City 17, Eli is at East, and Kliener is on the outskirts. Barney just probably qualified to be a combine policeman because he was previously a security guard. 'Cept I don't know why they didn't modify his ass like they did all the rest of the Metrocops.. then again it would be wierd to see him take off his helmet and see mecha-Barney :eek:
 
Myxamatosis said:
'Cept I don't know why they didn't modify his ass like they did all the rest of the Metrocops.. then again it would be wierd to see him take off his helmet and see mecha-Barney :eek:
Click to expand...

Um, interesting observation. :|
 
AJ Rimmer said:
I also love the way VALve told the story, I just wish there was a bit more of it! (I wanna know how Eli , Kleiner and Barney got out of BMRF for example, and hot they got to City 17. These things wouldn't be easy to tell with VALVe's storytelling style, but dagnabbit, I wanna know it none the less!)
Click to expand...

this is why some people would love to go back to Black Mesa.
every character in this series is so interesting it seems that HL fans just can't get enough :)
 
I want to get the Black Mesa Map thats comin out for HL2.

(random and pointless statement? dont care.)
 
the second HL is only the middle story in valves madness.
 
Myxamatosis said:
About going to City 17... barney is the only one in City 17, Eli is at East, and Kliener is on the outskirts. Barney just probably qualified to be a combine policeman because he was previously a security guard. 'Cept I don't know why they didn't modify his ass like they did all the rest of the Metrocops.. then again it would be wierd to see him take off his helmet and see mecha-Barney :eek:
Click to expand...
Oh jeez...

Okay, my mistake. But then I want to know how Eli got to the east of City 17, and how he set up the lab, and how Kleiner got to the outskirts of City 17 and set up his lab!
 
The Combine came to Earth after/during the Portal Storms (storms of portal between Earth and Xen, probably similar to the resonance cacade) and beat Earth's forces in the 7-hour War (guess how long it lasted) when Breen surendered the Earth and so the Combine took over and apointed Breen the figurehead.
 
AJ Rimmer said:
Oh jeez...

Okay, my mistake. But then I want to know how Eli got to the east of City 17, and how he set up the lab, and how Kleiner got to the outskirts of City 17 and set up his lab!
Click to expand...
Maybe they caught a cab? :D
 
References to small details are no way of telling a story. That'd be like a movie that doesn't explain why things happen or how they became that way. Even a bad movie like Waterworld explained that the icecaps melted. Half-Life 2 is immersive and very much fun to play, but the detective-work just makes you want to WTF quite loudly.

Nothing was mentioned of the portal wars in the game, was it? How should we know that? A much better story would have started with Gordon on the Subway with at least a briefing from the G-Man.

Half-Life was told theatrically, Half-Life 2 is told obscurely. If that's what they were going for, they got it. :-/

P.S. I won't accuse anyone, but there are fanboys who exist that would say it's a good story just because it was produced by Valve and not because of the quality of the stories. Not thinking for yourself is the start of a very dismal future.
 
But it's not a movie. You're free to wander around at your own pace.

I agree that finding out how the Combine got there in the first place is rather oblique, but:

1. From Breencasts and the fact that Barney could pose as one, you swiftly realise that the troops aren't actually the Combine...just humans working for them.
2. Many references from Breen show that he is under the Combine's control and that they are...something else.
3. As there are aliens everywhere it's fair to assume that somehow, rifts have been opened from Xen to Earth.
4. At the end Breen tries to flee to the other side of the Combine portal, and you see an actual Combine.

I missed the noticeboard in Eli's lab the first time around, but by the end of the game I had worked out that after Black Mesa, aliens had come through, and then the Combine had come through and somehow taken over, recruiting and brainwashing and modifying human troops. I had worked out that Dr. Breen made some sort of deal with the Combine and that he was the puppet dictator. I had worked out that the Combine were some sort of massively sluggish and technologically superior species who used biotechnology to achieve their aims. And I had worked out that the Combine probably just wanted Earth for its resources...since the waterline was very low and hell, what the hell else would they want?
 
Illegal Amigo said:
References to small details are no way of telling a story. That'd be like a movie that doesn't explain why things happen or how they became that way. Even a bad movie like Waterworld explained that the icecaps melted. Half-Life 2 is immersive and very much fun to play, but the detective-work just makes you want to WTF quite loudly.
Click to expand...
Not really, it all depends on what you like. Some people like to do some guess work, obviously some don't. And waterworld is a movie where they have 2 hours to explain the story to you, of course they will just come out and tell you. The half-life series is a lot longer than 2 hours, and therefore Valve can just hint at it instead of just spill its guts to you. Besides, like you said, Waterworld is a bad movie, which is why they didn't subtly tell you and instead just told you in the beggining. Atleast all the rumor spreading gives us things to do in between games. :E

Illegal Amigo said:
A much better story would have started with Gordon on the Subway with at least a briefing from the G-Man.
Click to expand...
Not really.. it wouldn't feel right for the G-Man to brief you... he is only there to tell you that it is time to move your ass. Why should he tell you what is going on? All gordon is there for is to stop the combine. Do you know how wierd it would be for him to just speak casually to you with his kind of speech problems? ..... Besides, the Gman agrees with your agrument below and wants Gordon to do some thinking on his own.

Illegal Amigo said:
Not thinking for yourself is the start of a very dismal future.
Click to expand...
Well that statement just goes against everything you have said in the rest of your post. You argue that you want the story fed to you a little more, and then claim free thinking is good. Well the way you want the story told doesn't require much thinking...

*(Who's the Admin here?)*
 
I meant not thinking for yourself in the context of "fanboyism". I don't think the casual gamer (i.e. someone who doesn't visit this site, hasn't read the HL2 backstory site) could pick up on the subtleties to figure out:

1. How the combine got to Earth?
2. How Barney managed to infiltrate the Metrocops?
3. What the combine want from Earth? (A few people said resources, but that's not clear to the casual gamer.)

If we could have seen a portal to Xen or the start of the Combine invasion, it would have made a lot more sense.
 
NO ! You are ridiculous. HL2 is not simple movie or some thoughtless linear game (Doom 3 etc.). Now get out of my sight you poor latino! :angry:
 
Illegal Amigo said:
I meant not thinking for yourself in the context of "fanboyism". I don't think the casual gamer (i.e. someone who doesn't visit this site, hasn't read the HL2 backstory site).
Click to expand...
Ok.

Illegal Amigo said:
If we could have seen a portal to Xen or the start of the Combine invasion, it would have made a lot more sense.
Click to expand...
Yeah.. but Valve never has cutscenes.. and I doubt that they would break their style just to make the story easier on people. Besides, part of being a fan of HL2 is that you must use your brains a little. If the people who can't figure things out feel a bit overwhelmed, they can play shitty halo 2 that requires nothing more than point and shoot gameplay....
 
Illegal Amigo said:
I meant not thinking for yourself in the context of "fanboyism". I don't think the casual gamer (i.e. someone who doesn't visit this site, hasn't read the HL2 backstory site) could pick up on the subtleties to figure out:

1. How the combine got to Earth?
2. How Barney managed to infiltrate the Metrocops?
3. What the combine want from Earth? (A few people said resources, but that's not clear to the casual gamer.)

If we could have seen a portal to Xen or the start of the Combine invasion, it would have made a lot more sense.
Click to expand...

I know alot of casual gamers who made sense of it.

1. The combine got to earth - portal storms (well, a whee while after), didn't you read the newspaper clippings?

2. Not important, who cares?

3. To enslave the population...to steal our technology...its blatantly obvious.
 
It's not blatantly obvious. Why would the Combine steal our technology if they're so advanced? What would they make people do if they were enslaving them?
 
2. How Barney managed to infiltrate the Metrocops?
Click to expand...
In the first chapter of the game, you can hear an NPC say "I'm thinking of joing the metropolice. (At least I'll get some decent food there <-- don't remember this too clearly)" . So access to a fully working suit is possible, and if you go in with a few friends at night I think you'll be able to steal one.
 
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