Valve has ruined games for me.
 

At least for games whose primary purpose is to tell a story (versus fragfests like TeamFortress, Battlefield, etc), and at least for the near future.

Having finally upgraded my computer recently I got around to replaying Half Life 2, and also playing Episodes 1 and 2 for the first time. I must say, I used to think System Shock 2 and Deus Ex had a wickedly good story (and they do), but they lack a second character that you can actually associate with and feel empathy for when things that would freak people out happen. I mean, you're the hero, so getting almost crushed with a stalker snapping in your face is so last week, but it doesn't happen to you. It happens to Alyx, and I at least genuinely felt sympathy for her, not to mention things that happen later. It's rare for entertainment to evoke an emotional reaction (except possibly anger and frustration at bad gameplay), so the fact that Valve actually made me feel for these characters is a testament. Then, of course, there is Portal, where nearly every line of dialog is absurdly amusing.

I think the fact that Half Life rarely eliminates your control of the character during the exposition scenes makes a big difference. It doesn't just cut into a pre-scripted cinematic or a CGI movie, you (the user) are part of the conversation, even if your character doesn't speak. And to be honest, probably if Gordon did speak, it wouldn't have the same feel, because the dialog rarely syncs up with what you (again, the user) would actually want to say.

In any case, back to the main topic: Homeworld 2, Dawn of War, Hellgate London, Jade Empire and a few others are all dead to me right now. I try to get into them, but I just can't seem to find the hook that Half Life had. As such, Valve, I demand compensation for these wasted games. A check would suffice, comprising of: reimbursement of my original purchase cost for these and other games; compensation for new games that I must now buy; and emotional damages for forcing me to entertain myself with inferior games. $4000 USD is a nice round number. Failing this, I will accept a free copy of Episode 3 when it is released.

Signed,
Niveras

Alyx is not a sympathetic character for a large part of Half Life's player base despite all the work they put in to making her one. Even if she were the most human, likable, and sympathetic character ever created that would not elevate Half Life 2's gameplay to some higher level, especially at the exclusion of completely different and arguably better games.

I loved TF2, I loved Portal, Half-life, not so much. Yea it was good story, well developed characters, but had one glaring flaw. I spent about as much time fighting as I did trying to find the doorway I just opened up. Was more boring then frustrating. Also most of the puzzles were rather braindead. They amounted to, put things on weight sensitive lever. Once you do it about the third time its an automatic assumption.

Though I did play portal first, so I guess ANY puzzle would seem sub-par.

i dont like Alyx... she is an Ok companion, but she takes away from Freeman. She is there to speak for him, to be his cinematic partner, but i just wisehd that Valve stopped dickign around and allowed Dr Freeman to kick butt and BE that badass that he can be.

Alyx casts a shadow over Freeman, not because she is a good character, but because Valve dosent seem to be able to use Freeman as a good Storytelling device (or main hero actually...)

I guess I'm looking at the game differently. Half Life 2 seems to be 'a movie that you can play.' While games in general tend to be about all the glorious things the hero can do, Half Life is more about telling the story in which you happen to be the character. For instance, what would your opinion be if you were watching a movie, or a high production TV miniseries?

Yeah, you don't exactly have much control, and the gameplay is pretty simple, but as far as story-telling game goes, I think it is top notch. Letting him just 'be the badass' goes down the road of Quake and Doom - not much story there. Alyx helps to keep your mind on the fact that taking down a chopper with its own mines or defending a base from a strider attack virtually singlehandedly are not things the NPCs do every day. Her words have a bit more permanence to them because she's not just FacelessReplicaRebelSoldier04. It helps a lot that she can't die, though.

Or it could be that I've just developed an unhealthy infatuation for Alyx. I hope that is not the case.

Half Life 2 is good at storytelling, and the story itself is pretty interesting if nothing revolutionary. The characters, unfortunately, are generally very cliche and one or two dimensional.

I can understand the feeling of being just a small part of a larger story, but that's really just because there's so much going on that you can't control and every major decision made by the characters happens without you despite your being at least the second most important man on earth. At best you feel like a little kid watching their parents coming up with a plan while thinking "Gee Golly, I wonder what they'll decide to do."

I'm not sure where you guys are getting the "Alyx is holdin' you BACK dog" or "Valve shouldn't let Gordon be the bad ass because it's cliche and there's not much story there." I mean, I have never, ever played a game where NPC's sang your praises and patted you on the back for everything you did more than Half Life 2.

"Way to pick up that box and throw it at my head. practicing for when the headcrabs attack, eh? Good ole' Freeman always looking out for us. We won't turn into zombies on his watch."

"Good job falling in that hole the Combine were probably hiding down there."

"Way to figure out how to operate a balance system you're so friggin smart Doctor Freeman."

I mean, yeah, I'm the legendary Messiah of Humanity but you don't need to tell me how impressive my crate stacking skills are. A lot of the "Gordon Freeman you are a badass fo' sho!" comes across as really forced and the game is saturated with it.

On a related note, that's why I never liked Alyx. She's not bad but it feels like the developers are trying way too hard too make you like her. It's understandable since they saddle you with her most of the game, but it still gets pretty annoying. I don't mind her while we're fighting or I'm shining the flashlight into people's eyes and she's shooting them but all the "bonding" moments just come off as really awkward because it's so out of character. (And it can't be that hard to keep a two dimensional character in character, can it?)

A big part of the "awkwardness" of the moments come from the fact that Freeman can't/won't speak. Now, I've always liked that part of Half Life. Gordon never needed to speak because all the friendlies he met would last five minutes to five seconds before meeting a horrible and gruesome end. It offered some immersion and made it feel like you were Gordon. Lately, though, Half Life (Probably starting with Episode 1 but becoming painfully obvious in Episode 2) has gotten far too social for a silent protagonist to be anything but jarring. It's like he's a mute aspergers patient and everyone keeps looking at him waiting for him to say something but he never does. Not even to relay critical life saving information like "Hey Alex there's some crazy three legged monster hoppin' around in here you better watch out." or "Holy crap guys there's one of them big flying maggots right outside the silo we'd better get on that."


In summary Half Life is pretty fun but even completely ignoring the abundant gameplay problems, it's greatest strength (storytelling and immersion) still have a lot of problems with them.

And Half Life with SMOD is probably the greatest game ever, I thought I should add that somewhere in this post so it's going on the end.

Probably because hes y'know, silent. Seriously, silent protagonists never work as storytelling devices, unless you ahve some control over things like dialogue choices.

Of course by SMOD you mean Gmod. Garry's mod. Best sandbox game ever. And best of all, you can make G-Man say Alyx's lines!

Your Kung-Fu is weak, child. Return to me when you have played a man's mod.

My issue with Gordon isn't that he is silent, I play Zelda, so I'm used to such characters. My issue is with who Gordon Freeman is, the game itself sums it up. "He isn't a commando or soldier. He never received any special training. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physacist"

I mean if you are a scientist, why are you the one killing these things? Wouldn't he be of more use in the lab. I gathered that its the suit that enables him to avoid death on a regular basis, so wouldn't it make more sense to shove an actual soldier in it while you get into a lab coat.

Not like he did anything that required brains, as I stated those puzzles were brain-dead. I guess you could argue that he invokes a strong moral boosting presence, but really I dont see how it could have gotten to that point.