The unspoken rules of halflife..

[attorney general]

I thought it was somewhat humorous the other day. My father was watching me play Episode 2, First of all, Hes not an avid game player to say the least. Anyway, I was excited to show him the dramatic end of the episode to which he responded "Why didn't you shoot at it!?", I think I actually smacked my forehead and I found it to be somewhat humorous and awkward that I was actually started to defend gordon, And the worst part was that I didn't have an answer! Later on when I was working on my progress on Episode 1, When Alyx started to climb up to cover you with the sniper rifle, My father responded "So are you going to go up there too?", Shortly followed by "How the heck do you always know were to go next?". I guess for someone who doesn't play video games ever this seems to make sense.

Through his observations Ive come to realize that most video game players have come to accept allot of unspoken rules, That we've become so used to that we hardly ever realize that they're there anymore. I thought it might be fun to list a few in the Halflife world, It would be a nice change from the G-man threads

:cheers: A few that I've noticed

1) A plain looking door can only be opened sometimes, However a boarded up door can almost always be opened.

2) If there is a door right next to a ventilation shaft, The ventilation shaft is always the right way to go.. lol.

3) The right path is almost always the one with the most debris in the way.

4) The keypads never seem to work.

5) The Presence of an over sized orange valve always means to run up and turn it immediately. LOL. can you imagine if we did that in real life.

 

[Jintor]

Ah, tropes.

www.tvtropes.org

I guess these are unspoken rules for gaming in general, really.

 

[attorney general]

People make websites about everything now a days :-|

 

[bbson john]

But I like discussing here

Almost every security system is connected to a panel where the whole system can be shut down by pressing a single button.
Bullets rearrange themselves to fill up every clip as soon as the player reloads.

 

[Cheomesh]

People make websites about everything now a days :-|

Church of the Whale Penis ftw.

 

[attorney general]

Lol.. from a recent playthrough.
A huge smeared bloodstain on the floor always means your going the right way..

 

[Druckles]

2) If there is a door right next to a ventilation shaft, The ventilation shaft is always the right way to go.. lol.

Just yes... oh so right!

4) The keypads never seem to work.

Just yes... oh so annoying.

5) The Presence of an over sized orange valve always means to run up and turn it immediately. LOL. can you imagine if we did that in real life.

And oh so true...

Lol.. from a recent playthrough.
A huge smeared bloodstain on the floor always means your going the right way..

I'd have to change that to "if you're still shooting someone, you're going the right way".

Maybe a "if you see the gman, you can't be far off" too...

Possibly "If there's no-one around, you're about to be ambushed"

Definitely "If you're in a ventilation shaft, there's a critter round the corner"
(Applicable to all games.)

Need to play HL2 through again and get back to you with some more .


But you get the idea. I think there were far more in Half-Life than Half-Life 2.

 

[Bad^Hat]

# If the music suddenly cuts into a bassy up-tempo vibe, get behind something.

# Crate of rockets = kill the nearest big thing. Vice versa, said big thing will always patrol near to a crate, the exception being when you're meant to run like piss or find a dark corner and assume the fetal position until it scampers off to kill other less important people.

# The G-man has nothing better to do with his time than look creepy (which is easily accomplished).

 

[Druckles]

# If the music suddenly cuts into a bassy up-tempo vibe, get behind something.

# Crate of rockets = kill the nearest big thing. Vice versa, said big thing will always patrol near to a crate, the exception being when you're meant to run like piss or find a dark corner and assume the fetal position until it scampers off to kill other less important people.

# The G-man has nothing better to do with his time than look creepy (which is easily accomplished).

All seconded

 

[akrippler]

When faced with multiple choices in a predicament, Gordon will always pick the most badass thing. IE. Hitting the ramp and taking out a dock some combine are standing on instead of just going around it.

Whenever Alyx says something along the lines of, "We should be safe from now on" you know your in trouble.

 

[function9]

When faced with multiple choices in a predicament, Gordon will always pick the most badass thing. IE. Hitting the ramp and taking out a dock some combine are standing on instead of just going around it.

Whenever Alyx says something along the lines of, "We should be safe from now on" you know your in trouble.

Or whenever she says those famous words, "I'll catch up with you."

 

[nurizeko]

* You don't seem to care that someone(s) or something(s) are leaving oil drums and ammo crates about in the most unlikely places. "I'll just leave this ammo box here in this corner of this underground car park".

* You can usually tell which gun you'll need by what re-usable ammo box is nearby.

* You stop wondering why you can't just climb over this fairly low fence and instead decide to go the long way round through a swarm of combine and a basement of zombies.

 

[Acepilotf14]

* If there is an explosive barrel in sight, prepare for a big battle.

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

1. You know it's time to solve a physics puzzle when Alyx tells you it's time to solve a physics puzzle.

(She didn't tell you to solve the bridge puzzle in Episode 2, and look how confused everybody got. )

2. You know you'll soon have to cross a treacherous toxic waste field when you see pallets lying about.

 

[Zarzak]

-If there's a toxic waste, there are always zombies beneath its surface

 

[Pinkle]

-If there's a toxic waste, there are always zombies beneath its surface

YYEEESSS.

Also, if there's toxic waste, feel free to punt some explosive barrles or toss in some grenades to get rid of some of said zombies. It's fun to watch their two halves fly up in the air. :E

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

If anything is tall and metal, blow it up (Nova Prospect, Citadel, bridges)

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

anything valve says in the first month of production of anything, simply ignore. It's going to get cut, rearranged, or mutilated somehow.

 

[V-Man339]

If there's a new gun nearby, you know there's going to be either a new enemy soon, or a part of the game that really takes advantage of said gun.

 

[MJ12]

When something is about to be accomplished, some technical malfunction or otherwise occurs, in which Gordon has to go on another smaller mission to fix it.

***spoiler***

Christ sakes I was suprised that nothing happened when you went to go set off the rocket at the end of ep.2. I was just waiting "f*cking lamar" "f*cking combine are going to barge in" "f*cking rocket malfunction"

 

[Planetary]

If there's a new gun nearby, you know there's going to be either a new enemy soon, or a part of the game that really takes advantage of said gun.

Pulse rifle in Episode Two? Not very useful against 10,000 zombies.

Other then that, yeah. Rockets, bugbait, crossbow (if you find it in the right place), gravity gun. Not so much in Half-life. The hive hand just sits there on the floor.

 

[kupocake]

- If you walk into a deserted house and there is an absolute ****load of ammo in there, you're probably not there for a quick tea break.
- Sniper Rifles always fall inside Sniper nests, even if the soldiers holding them fall out.
- Getting out and Walking is never an option. A Vehicle is to be practically welded to you -until- someone, or a big ****-off wall tells you otherwise.
- If there are signs of damage on an object or surface near an unreachable cache of tasty looking weapons, or a locked door, this is a hint that you should follow a previous person's lead, and cause more damage. Despite this, the door has apparently never been unlocked, and that unreachable cache is stocked to the gills, suggesting that whoever had the right idea before you, managed to balls up rather majorly anyway.
- Despite the fact that a situation could easily be solved, explained or prevented by your telling someone, the player can't or won't.
- Gordon Freeman can be shot full of Morphine all day without any negative effects.
- Climbing ladders, driving vehicles and interacting with objects are tasks that never require Gordon Freeman to use his hands. However, as the existence of any body parts aside from Freeman's two hands are not verifiable, Gordon Freeman is quite possibly a levitating Hindu deity. This would also explain how he carries so many weapons.

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

freeman can carry 20 guns each 20 lbs, and not have his back collapse.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Due to Gordon's glasses, when he looks a certain area, other rebels have sudden unexplainable urge to run.

 

[Link]

There is always one last headcrab you didn't see

 

[Bulletbrain]

Electricity in any building can be instantly restored by plugging in the "oversized plug (TM)" in the nearby "oversized socket (TM)".

Someone has already tried to do what you are going to do.... unsuccessfully. ( Dead medic near the Antlion larve extract chamber, skeleton near the huge fan you just passed through... etc etc)

 

[LandStander]

If your way is completely sealed off fear not! A monster will smash in to make another one for you.

 

[kupocake]

If your way is completely sealed off fear not! A monster will smash in to make another one for you.

True to an extent, but Half-Life pales in comparrison to Doom 3 and Quake 4 in this area. Every damned room you walked into was like that in those games...

 

[Jintor]

If anything is jammed between gears, releasing it will make your path clear, instead of possibly flinging out and killing you like would normally happen.

 

[leib10]

If you see a button, push it.

If you see wall chargers/wall medkits, prepare for some serious health issues in the immediate future.

 

[stewe231]

Theres always a conveniently placed crowbar in every Half-life game.

 

[nurizeko]

When low on health, allow yourself to be bitten by a poison headcrab.

Free healz!.

 

[Jintor]

When low on health, allow yourself to be bitten by a poison headcrab.

Free healz!.

Does not work.

 

[Druckles]

- Sniper Rifles always fall inside Sniper nests, even if the soldiers holding them fall out.

That's because they're stationary.

- Getting out and Walking is never an option. A Vehicle is to be practically welded to you -until- someone, or a big ****-off wall tells you otherwise.

They're mission critical resources

- Gordon Freeman can be shot full of Morphine all day without any negative effects.

I lol'd

- Climbing ladders, driving vehicles and interacting with objects are tasks that never require Gordon Freeman to use his hands. However, as the existence of any body parts aside from Freeman's two hands are not verifiable, Gordon Freeman is quite possibly a levitating Hindu deity. This would also explain how he carries so many weapons.

Funny

Due to Gordon's glasses, when he looks a certain area, other rebels have sudden unexplainable urge to run.

I lol'd

Electricity in any building can be instantly restored by plugging in the "oversized plug (TM)" in the nearby "oversized socket (TM)".

I lol'd. So true.

Someone has already tried to do what you are going to do.... unsuccessfully. ( Dead medic near the Antlion larve extract chamber, skeleton near the huge fan you just passed through... etc etc)

Again, so true. Depressingly so. Missed of the HEV suited scientists too

If your way is completely sealed off fear not! A monster will smash in to make another one for you.

Or you're not looking hard enough

If you see a button, push it.

Or get someone else to push it.

If you see wall chargers/wall medkits, prepare for some serious health issues in the immediate future.

Or some other method of using up your health.

Theres always a conveniently placed crowbar in every Half-life game.

"Convenient"

When low on health, allow yourself to be bitten by a poison headcrab.

Free healz!.

Just no.

Oh, my own,
If you see two paths, go through the second one you noticed.

 

[kupocake]

That's because they're stationary.

It still makes marginal sense to see Soldiers dive headfirst out of windows, yet not see a glimpse of the weapon they carried. Plus we don't actually know that every rifle we've encountered was mounted. Seems a bit daft to me anyway, like the combine set up warzones like they would set up a carnival sideshow.

If you see two paths, go through the second one you noticed.

My problem is the usually the opposite. I choose right first time and wonder what I missed by not going the other way... of course, the unspoken rule here is that I missed nothing whatsoever

 

[Druckles]

My problem is the usually the opposite. I choose right first time and wonder what I missed by not going the other way... of course, the unspoken rule here is that I missed nothing whatsoever

Often a case solved by playing it a second time, slowly

 

[Narvi]

When you find a rocket crate, a boss which will require rockets to beat will not be far away.

 

[Zarzak]

If you see two paths, go through the second one you noticed.

I don't agree. There is always one path. No matter how wierd it is: a vent, mine shaft, cluttered corridor or a whole in the wall. But if you keep moving forward, you gotta be on the right road to whereever you go.

 

[Druckles]

I don't agree. There is always one path. No matter how wierd it is: a vent, mine shaft, cluttered corridor or a whole in the wall. But if you keep moving forward, you gotta be on the right road to whereever you go.

That's not true. There are occasionally obstructions which force you to go around. True, the game is entirely linear, so you only have on method of getting somewhere, but time is often saved by going to least obvious (smaller) path first

 

[FallenGuard]

I think this Comic says it oh so well. :cheese:

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-07-17