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Half Life 2 was really good for telling the story while keeping the player in the action. Even during scenes where characters were just talking to you, you coul

Half Life 2 was really good for telling the story while keeping the player in the action. Even during scenes where characters were just talking to you, you could play with the scenery and move around and pick things up. There'd be several people talking in a room and the game would expect you to turn around to face the person who is talking, then turn back around to see the other person respond. It was a natural step from HL1 as players became more comfortable navigating 3D game worlds. I'm wondering if they're waiting for that moment in VR before choosing to make another story-heavy game like that.

KON_Air 10y ago
Interactivity, yes. Action, no. Getting locked inside a room or waiting for a progress blocker to be done with is hardly "keeping the action".
- tsunamifury 10y ago
  I think you dont quite remember the context -- before Half Life 1's continuous 3D story telling, games would cut to video to move the story forward. It was actually a revolutionary new story telling technique at the time that did "keep the action going" because you could explore the room as the characters talked.
  - KON_Air 10y ago
    I was pointing at HL2. As far as I can remember HL1 had like 2 or 3 lock in sequences (besides the loooong intro), while HL2 stops everything whenever someone talks and episodes have sequences that even lock the camera. Yeah, HL1 was was revolutionary in that regard.
- freehunter 10y ago
  You're right, when I say action here I actually mean interactive. It doesn't play a pre-recorded video clip, it lets you keep some amount of control over your character and keeps you in the game world.
vkou 10y ago
Another thing that Half-Life 2 did, in order to turn the player's attention to an interesting bit of scenery was to position an enemy solider near that scenery. The solider would shoot at the player, and most people would turn towards the threat... And got their attention drawn to their setpiece.
- s_kilk 10y ago
  They'd also use clever geometry to guide the eye toward important sights. A plank sticking out of a pile of debris can do wonders for guiding the viewer
  - barrkel 10y ago
    This "cleverness" of HL2 is what ruined it for me. The environment felt heavily contrived, and destroyed my desire to explore, because I felt funnelled. It was worse than what came before, because before, exploring was rewarded by finding nooks and crannies, and hidden passages. With HL2, increasingly you were forced to find the alternative routes (when the main path was blocked), which killed my desire to look for them. I did not enjoy HL2 or its successors as games.
    - freehunter 10y ago
      See and I feel somewhat opposite, so I love that we have such a diversity of choice in games. For me I've always had a hard time getting into games where there was a ton of pointless stuff lying around. Like a game that lets you pick up a wooden fork from someone's table... is this going to be important later? Why else would they let me pick it up? I'm going to take it because it must be worth something. And it's still in my inventory when I finish the game. Ooh, a book I can read in the game, must be important... nope, it's just a story you can read, because I guess the story of the game isn't good enough to keep players interested. Games like Skyrim and GTA I like because most of the time the stuff you find hidden here and there are interesting things happening in every corner you look. But some of the modern takes on CRPGs like Divinity: Original Sin, I have a hard time with. They encourage you in tooltips and loading screens to talk to everyone, try to trade with everyone, because some random person might be super important. But 90% of them are useless. So I waste how much time searching empty chests and pointless NPCs to find maybe one out of 100 that's actually important? I don't like 100% on-rails stuff, but I do like a little guidance. I don't play games to waste time, I play games to be entertained. I really liked HL2's guidance. It's one of those games where you play it as a cinematic experience, not to explore an vast and complex world. There are plenty of games on both sides of the coin.
david-given 10y ago
Here's an example from the HL2:E1 commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vr6n53jPR0&feature=youtu.be&t=1200 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vr6n53jPR0&feature=youtu.be...
dsfyu404ed 10y ago
I'm glad someone mentioned Half Life since looking around in the various "someone is talking and you're not going anywhere" scenes was the first thing I thought of while reading this article.

KON_Air 10y ago

Interactivity, yes. Action, no. Getting locked inside a room or waiting for a progress blocker to be done with is hardly "keeping the action".

tsunamifury 10y ago
I think you dont quite remember the context -- before Half Life 1's continuous 3D story telling, games would cut to video to move the story forward. It was actually a revolutionary new story telling technique at the time that did "keep the action going" because you could explore the room as the characters talked.
- KON_Air 10y ago
  I was pointing at HL2. As far as I can remember HL1 had like 2 or 3 lock in sequences (besides the loooong intro), while HL2 stops everything whenever someone talks and episodes have sequences that even lock the camera. Yeah, HL1 was was revolutionary in that regard.
freehunter 10y ago
You're right, when I say action here I actually mean interactive. It doesn't play a pre-recorded video clip, it lets you keep some amount of control over your character and keeps you in the game world.

vkou 10y ago

Another thing that Half-Life 2 did, in order to turn the player's attention to an interesting bit of scenery was to position an enemy solider near that scenery. The solider would shoot at the player, and most people would turn towards the threat... And got their attention drawn to their setpiece.

s_kilk 10y ago
They'd also use clever geometry to guide the eye toward important sights. A plank sticking out of a pile of debris can do wonders for guiding the viewer
- barrkel 10y ago
  This "cleverness" of HL2 is what ruined it for me. The environment felt heavily contrived, and destroyed my desire to explore, because I felt funnelled. It was worse than what came before, because before, exploring was rewarded by finding nooks and crannies, and hidden passages. With HL2, increasingly you were forced to find the alternative routes (when the main path was blocked), which killed my desire to look for them. I did not enjoy HL2 or its successors as games.
  - freehunter 10y ago
    See and I feel somewhat opposite, so I love that we have such a diversity of choice in games. For me I've always had a hard time getting into games where there was a ton of pointless stuff lying around. Like a game that lets you pick up a wooden fork from someone's table... is this going to be important later? Why else would they let me pick it up? I'm going to take it because it must be worth something. And it's still in my inventory when I finish the game. Ooh, a book I can read in the game, must be important... nope, it's just a story you can read, because I guess the story of the game isn't good enough to keep players interested. Games like Skyrim and GTA I like because most of the time the stuff you find hidden here and there are interesting things happening in every corner you look. But some of the modern takes on CRPGs like Divinity: Original Sin, I have a hard time with. They encourage you in tooltips and loading screens to talk to everyone, try to trade with everyone, because some random person might be super important. But 90% of them are useless. So I waste how much time searching empty chests and pointless NPCs to find maybe one out of 100 that's actually important? I don't like 100% on-rails stuff, but I do like a little guidance. I don't play games to waste time, I play games to be entertained. I really liked HL2's guidance. It's one of those games where you play it as a cinematic experience, not to explore an vast and complex world. There are plenty of games on both sides of the coin.

david-given 10y ago

Here's an example from the HL2:E1 commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vr6n53jPR0&feature=youtu.be&t=1200 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vr6n53jPR0&feature=youtu.be...

dsfyu404ed 10y ago

I'm glad someone mentioned Half Life since looking around in the various "someone is talking and you're not going anywhere" scenes was the first thing I thought of while reading this article.