I played the original Half Life back in the day and really enjoyed it, but for whatever reason I've never gotten around to playing 2.
How is it, and how has it held up? Will episode 2 leave me with any sort of satisfied feeling or will it just leave me depressed knowing there will never be a finale?
HL2 is good
if you have little experience with first-person shooters
However it received more praise than it deserved due to being a technological achievement for gaming. Aside from technology it does everything HL1 did worse in general, aside from some neat non-linear FEELING driving sections, sound design and art direction. Today it just feels rather underwhelming
Its a solid shooter with a unique Industrial-esque atmosphere Valve was famous for before all their talent left coupled with post-apocalypse thrown in and 1984 inspired themes and imagery.
Thats all I can say, you have to play it for yourself, overall I think that while its not the masterpiece a lot of people claim it to be in retrospect, I think it still holds up as a solid shooter.
I'm guessing it would be pretty boring if I replayed it today. It has good atmosphere and pretty locations, but that's about it. Weapons are quite subpar, there's long ass driving sections and you listen to NPCs talk to you for hours so they can explain the plot. EP1 is so unremarkable I don't even remember it, EP2 is slightly better I think.
Go ahead if you want to try it, just don't pay the jews at Valve.
There's HL2 Update, a free graphical update for it I haven't tried it myself yet but you can download that if graphics are an issue. I personally really disliked Episodes so I'm not going to make a comment there. If you have the time you should play HL2 though I find it very fun, can play it from time to time and still enjoy it
"Seinfield isn't funny"
If you've played modern first person shooters, or anything which utilised physics meaningfully, HL2's appeal may be lost on you. It was a marvel for its time and set a high standard for future gen 6 video games.
It was great for it's time, but may not be as fun by todays standards. Remember it was realeased over ten years ago.
HL2 is overrated, it's just okay.
In what department?
Age isn't it. Doom was released 23 years ago and still holds up because the devs invested in good level design and fast-paced gameplay with weapon and enemy variety, instead of good graphics and physics gimmicks.
High production quality, great use of physics (that tied in with the gameplay), sound and music, moderately engaging plot, etc. Just the gravity gun by itself was a very big deal. A lot of games did those things, but HL2 was the first to bring them together.
You're right in that it's mostly overrated. Whatever.
OP, play the game with an open mind and enjoy.
No it wasn't. It was gimmicky bs.
I mentioned "seinfield isn't funny" at the top of my post. That's the biggest reason why it doesn't hold up - because everything it did then has been done and redone better since then.
Using the gravity gun to slice cunts open with a razor blade in Ravenholm was tip top m8 but you're welcome to your own opinion
your boipussi is gimmicky bs
Choke on this gimmick.
HL2 hasn't held up well at all. It was a good tech demo but it's nothing like Half-Life. If you really enjoyed HL for what it was then HL2 will seem like some awkward spinoff that seems to be a sequel but that's it. Some parts are good but the game as a whole is ironically even more outdated than the first one. I can only say that I enjoy HL2 for nostalgia sake today but if it came out recently it would be embarrassing for a modern day dev. It is strictly a tech demo in today's worth.
The strangest problem it has is how much content was cut from it and it was A LOT. If you're a complete newb to HL2, HL2 is one of the top examples of cut content affecting the final cut. The story itself was so embarassing for Valve that it delayed the game hard. The game was leaked in an incomplete form and I'm surprised to this day that Valve endured the shitstorm that occurred then. There's videos, blogs, and articles going over the leaked content that never made it and even a mod that is just about playing with leaked content.
As for the episodes, if you somehow enjoy HL2 then you will get mixed enjoyment out of the episodes - as strange as that sounds. Episode 1 is more of a solid sequel to HL2. Episode 2 was an attempt to finally go somewhere and add new things but it was too little too late and doesn't go far enough at all. Episode 2's cliffhanger is massive in terms of cliffhangers. Again, If HL2 worked for you, this is where it will hurt you the hardest. Episode 2 is going on a 10 year delay in storytelling. Not even Duke Nukem gave fans this problem. You will not be satisfied.
Been a while since I played either of them.
I never got the appeal of HL1. To me it was just another shooter. But I really liked HL2 (plus the two follow-ups).
Physics puzzles don't hold up anymore, but shooting combine is fun.
Well, with such a plethora of different opinions - I say you have little choice but to give it a try.
Everybody would probably agree to this, though: IF you enjoy ple plot and lore, you will be incredibly blueballed by the end of Episode 2 and lack of Episode 3.
The city 17 setting is kind of cool and there are a few memorable gameplay sections. Episode 2 especially.
It has the shittiest most forced waifu in all gaming.
Removed from the hype I'd say it's just OK.
Anyone else play the original Half-Life and end it with the bad ending just so there can be an actual conclusion to the character? Fuck you, Gabe.
Objectively best ending to be honest
G-man would have used Shepard instead
i am sure this isn't a bait thread op
it's confirmed that they were not taken into serious consideration when writing HL2
They would have if Gordon Freeman's death was canon
Original HL2 was gonna be fucking dark and go in-depth on what the hell happened that the earth is such a shitheap as it is. The final product only really tells you the Combine's military was so devastating that control of the world was attained in seven hours, and that Breen surrendered on behalf of humanity and was made liaison between humanity and the Combine for his efforts; but why Breen was even able to decide that for humanity as a whole and how devastating the Combine military machine really is aren't ever actually divulged in the story, albeit the first one there's hints Breen didn't surrender with any actual authority behind him and the Combine accepted a white flag from a traitor to his own kind. Ravenholm was really the only part in the entirety of HL2 that really reminded me of the first game, loads of traps and a genuinely tense atmosphere.
Then there's the low enemy variety (only two or three Half-Life aliens make an appearance at all and you're told they're pretty much all there; Ichthyosaur appears but only as a cutscene prop), the white-armored supersoldiers having near-identical AI to the fucking CP officers, glaring plotholes around every corner, Alyx being shoved down your throat as the game's token waifu, and everybody fucking talking around you because you're a silent protagonist.
Hl2 still holds up. The cutscenes are pretty grating but not enough to ruin the experience. Episode 1 feels like a 4 hour experience where nothing happens narratively and game play wise is largely pretty weak, there's a few stand out moments still. Episode 2 is absolutely better than hl2.
its a way different game. but its probably still worth a play through.
i wonder if any of those old singleplayer mods like halflife 2 substance have been updated to work with modern hl2. at some point they just stopped working, i guess some patches broke them. a big damn shame.
lets not forget how many of the weird sci fi weapons are out. i guess the cool interactions with the gravity gun like being able to grab grenades, or those combine pinballs are supposed to make up for it.
You guys are missing the fundamental point. KILLING COMBINE IS FUN. The way they ragdoll, the sounds they make. It's satisfying.
maybe. i do find that ragdoll physics generally add a lot to a games amusement factor.
The guns feel like shit, though. Killing combine isn't exciting either, but I am desensitized to HL2 because of Gmod.
You wouldn't have ample Gmod experience if killing stuff in the engine wasn't satisfying.