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This echoes what Yahtzee said about the game years later, and it still rings true: Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never leave the
by qwertyuiop924 10y ago
This echoes what Yahtzee said about the game years later, and it still rings true: Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never leave the shoes of Freeman. Its story interleaves with its gameplay, and the pieces are all there to see, but if you just want to shoot some aliens, that's okay too.
It's a collection of innovations and feelings that few other games have been able to capture.
On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant.
Yahtzee Crowshaw's (yes, the very same guy I mentioned above) LP of the game (Let's Drown Out All Of Half-Life), while by no means a must-watch, is also reccomended.
- rodgerd 10y ago> Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never leave the shoes of Freeman. I felt much the same way about Marathon, which ended up being under-appreciated by virtue of being Mac-only. A shame.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoMany said that Marathon delivered on the story promise before Half-Life. I tried it out recently. Unfortunately, due to a warped perspective and a positively abysmal FOV, I can't actually play it without feeling sick, and as a result the whole thing feels like a slog. It may be good, but for me, it's totally unplayable.
- M_Grey 10y agoI remember playing Marathon when it first came out, and... frankly had the same reaction. I managed to play Spectre on a Mac LC, but Marathon broke me. Lots of potential, but as seen through the bottom of a beer glass.
- dietrichepp 10y agoEhh, wondering if you played Marathon or Marathon 2. Either way, older games are often lacking in usability compared to newer ones. That's especially true of FPSs prior to, say, 2000.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoMeh. Doom had a playable FOV, and it's still a complete blast to play.
- dietrichepp 10y agoMeh. Different people are always going to like different games. I remember being at a LAN party where different people would dominate the game depending on the lineage of the game technology--you get used to something, it feels normal, and everything else seems "wrong". I don't feel any need to convince you that you "should" enjoy Marathon any more than you "should" like the same bands I like.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoOf course. I mean, I'd probably enjoy it a lot more if it didn't look like it did. If M2 fixes it, I might try that, but it is a story-based game, so that's got its own problems.
- mercer 10y agoThis usability thing has been fascinating me recently. I've been re-playing the Metal Gear Solid series. The second and third game are better than the originals because of a control scheme update that was part of a bigger 'HD' update. But they still suck compared to the controls of the fifth iteration of the game, 'The Phantom Pain'. MGS5 has some of the best controls I've ever used in a (third person) game. For lack of a better description, it made me feel almost like how I felt when I first played Mario64. And I can't help but wonder why 1) it took three iterations to get here even though 5's controls could be realized even in earlier iterations of the game, 2) why other similar games don't just use the same controls instead of more dated approaches. I mean, I get why, but it feels strange. I understand how the development of graphics, physics, AI, etc. is limited by technology but as long as you don't need a controller update for your new control scheme, such a limitation shouldn't be there. And yet it is, apparently.
- 10y ago
- gordon_freeman 10y agoOne of the things which really surprised me when I played HL and all its subsequent versions(HL2, HL2:E1, Hl2:E2) was the FPS game design -- The designers knew precisely the limits they could go to make it damn difficult for you to find next steps you will need to do and what to do to reach to those steps. Combine that with FPS gameplay and you have a heck of a game there. Loved everybit of my life playing it and that's why I choose HN username as "gordon_freeman". :)
- greyskull 10y ago> if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch Agreed! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ELkznu7Gec_hU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ELkznu7Gec_hU
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoAre you trying to tell me how to structure my posts? Man, that's it. You're on The List. Uggh. This whole forum is full of sheep. I'll probably be downvoted by people who don't understand this gag. I get no respect.
- gravypod 10y agoThe writer for that Freeman's Mind was far better then I'd expected. I remember watching that back when machinima was considered "nice" or "good" by the community! Brings back memories.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoIt's quite fantastic. I thank Yahtzee for bringing it to my attention through his many digressions, including a story about how he accidentally ripped Ross Scott (the creator of Freeman's Mind) off. Unfortunately, my prophecy seems to be self-fulfilling. GPP is down from +3 to +0.
- hyperion2010 10y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc&list=PL6PNZBb6b9LvDWpI-5CPYUxG1Rnm-vr9V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQhfkpX9bc&list=PL6PNZBb6b9... Here is a playlist with the full series.
- shurcooL 10y agoAlso agreed. Ross Scott is awesome.
- M_Grey 10y agoI think that's why Half Life 3 is still so desirable for so many who were influenced by that story, despite the reality that it's almost certainly never going to be made. By the way, is Yahtzee still slumming it on the Escapist, or has he done the Patreon thing like Jim? He always seemed too good for that place.
- GarrisonPrime 10y agoStill at Escapist. Mayhaps it's inertia, or possibly a contractual thing. No se.
- M_Grey 10y agoYikes, oh well, as long as he's on Youtube as well I suppose it doesn't matter. Thanks for the info.
- eropple 10y agoHe gets paid decently (and on time, unlike most of the people who've worked for them) and, I've been told, doesn't actually make his own videos--just does the voiceovers. That sounds like a pretty easy gig.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoHuh. I was pretty sure he did the videos. Maybe he just storyboards them now? Ah well, maybe he'll finally use that free time to make a proper version of Cell. Because the demo of that game was really cool.
- m_mueller 10y agoI don't think 'never' is very realistic. HL3 would be the perfect killer app for selling Vive VR headsets, I'm reasonably sure they are working on something like that. Although Portal does actually make more sense in terms of how the transport mechanics can work together with a VR rigged room, however HL3 could easily introduce a teleport mechanic as well based on its backstory.
- hellbanner 10y agoA more critical review of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-3gcVICiCs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-3gcVICiCs
- inopinatus 10y agoThanks, I wasn't aware of his work. I like this deconstructive approach to game review.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoYeah, Errant Signal is pretty cool. Have you checked out matthewmatosis? He does the same sort of stuff, and sometimes goes even more in-depth.
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- qwertyuiop924 10y agoAnd a less critical retrospective https://youtube.com/watch?v=bp5vOgz8vyI https://youtube.com/watch?v=bp5vOgz8vyI
- k__ 10y agoYes, HL had a better story than most FPS, but I don't think this is why it was hyped. It simply delivered one of the best modding possibilities ever. You bought HL and every week you could buy a gaming magazine with 5 new mods. Most of them crap, for sure, but it felt like paying once and getting new stuff all the time. I never had a game installed for so long and played the "main game" for such a short time. HL², on the other hand, I played for the story only, never installed any mods or something, but maybe I was already to old to run after this half finished games, haha.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoQuake actually had a better modding scene in terms of creativity. But HL gave us TF in its present form, and CS and NS1, so it gets all the credit.
- k__ 10y agoYes, I read that too. Like I said, I got most of my stuff from gaming magazines before I had Internet, and I almost never saw any Quake mods on their CDs. On the other hand, I was rather young when Quake was "a thing" and just started with PC gaming. I found out about these magazines a few years later.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoYep. And HL was really where the mod scene went. From there, the MP component did stuff with Quake 3. Who knows what the rest of it did.
- mercer 10y agoUnreal Tournament had a decent mod scene too though, and it was only with HL2's Source Engine (and I suppose Valve's active support of modding) that I saw people leave that scene. I only worked on mods for UT and the original Jedi Knight, and I've only heard second-hand that UT and Quake (3? 2?) were easier to mod than HL1, so I might be wrong. And compared to Jedi Knight and its only editor(s) being user-made, all these games were easy to mod!
- andreamazz 10y ago> On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant. True. Also I just learned that he actually finished the whole game. I used to follow this series as he was producing it, and I thought he gave up halfway through.
- lfowles 10y ago> On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant. Likewise, if you've played Half-Life 2, you owe it to yourself to read Concerned: The Comic of Gordon Frohman