Manwe on 22/8/2011 at 05:22
Half Life 1 had one character and that was Gordon Freeman, who couldn't even speak. His whole personality amounted to being a theoretical physicist and an MIT graduate. If it wasn't for magazine covers I doubt anyone would know what he actually looks like. All the other characters were retconned in HL2. The plot was paper thin and was just an excuse for shooting stuff, and it was shoved down your throat as it was a linear cinematic experience. So yeah, unlike SS2 where you had to look for information and piece the whole plot together, Half Life didn't require you to use your brain.
El_ on 22/8/2011 at 06:23
Which is why Half-life kicked all of its sequel's asses btw. There is a sweet nostalgia I associate with older games because the plot is more in the background and gameplay mechanics were still far from fully realized. Ironically, this seemed to put the focus on making the gameplay that much better. Games were longer and fuller without whatever second-rate writing departments studios have added for modern games. I'm not saying Bioshock is bad, as it is definitely one of the most memorable games of its time, but it suffers a little from console retardization.
SS2, which I pirated and only played a few levels from, has the opposite effect on me. It was tremendously hard to be bothered to learn the nuances of what skills were useful for what class and how to go about killing stuff and playing the game. Maybe I should have put it on easy, but I like games I can figure out without internet manuals. I have the feeling I could really appreciate hive mind aliens vs shodan thing if I did ever give it a shot. For now I'm playing too much as it is with Starcraft II and replaying the Thief series, as I'm now old enough to appreciate them.
Here is a fantastic article related to my first paragraph, touching on how just a little background story can be better than too much.
(
http://lunaran.com/page.php?id=200) Why Ugly, Incoherent Games are the Best Games
Quote:
The key to making any story believable is in the telling - any movie or tall tale has to take itself just the right kind of seriously. There's always a certain amount of apology that creators unintentionally weave into what they're creating, and usually things perceived as "worse" have a lot more of it. Holes that need to be filled, ideas that need to be explained, actions that need motivations, motivations that need reasons, all introduced in the name of helping bridge the gap between author and audience. Stories and worlds perceived as "best" tend to have a kind of confidence about them, doing their thing without caring about the audience, which is of course what the audience really likes: to be taken somewhere, not have it brought to them. This is partly why an artist can paint a canvas white and get away with it - because he meant to do that.
When Quake was released, few knew about what went on behind id's doors. Quake just showed up, with an atmosphere more brutal than Doom, with a little text blurb at the end of each episode just like Doom, that encouraged you to find all the runes and explore the dimensions of Quake and didn't cover anything else at all as if ogres with chainsaws was the way it was supposed to be. Between that and the then-amazing 3D realism*, Quake gave players no reason to think there was reason to disbelieve it.
june gloom on 22/8/2011 at 06:39
Quote Posted by Manwe
The plot was paper thin and was just an excuse for shooting stuff, and it was shoved down your throat as it was a linear cinematic experience. So yeah, unlike SS2 where you had to look for information and piece the whole plot together, Half Life didn't require you to use your brain.
Quote Posted by El_
Which is why Half-life kicked all of its sequel's asses btw.
This is the worst thread I've seen outside of GenGaming in days.
Manwe on 22/8/2011 at 07:02
Quote Posted by dethtoll
none of which really fits with your "overtones of serious sci-fi" puffery but you've pretty clearly decided that the bag of dicks is all yours (you can have it btw) so i'm not going to bother continuing this discussion further
Quote Posted by dethtoll
i was kinda feeling guilty about the post i made in commchat a few minutes ago but now i don't anymore because suddenly every word in your post that isn't attributed to me just reads CRUSHED UNDER A MESS OF DICK HURRRRP DROOL
Quote Posted by dethtoll
System Shock 2 rehashed the log thing from System Shock 1 which rehashed it from any number of a million things, up to and including Edgar Allen Poe but also Star Trek if you want to blaggle on about how it doesn't count if it's not sci-fi.
And Bioshock had cutscenes? Could have fooled me.
Not in small part thanks to you.
june gloom on 22/8/2011 at 08:58
i like how you include the last one which isn't really confrontational of me at all yet you clearly felt that by my expressing my disagreement even politely i'm sending the thread down the shitter? lol @ u
quit whiteknighting BH he's a big boy he can own up to his own terrible opinions, unlike you who has to scream BAWWW NO U
Manwe on 22/8/2011 at 10:41
I was just quoting random posts from you in this thread. And yeah I don't have to do more than "BAWWW NO U" to make you look like the tool you are. BH has terrible opinions ? Why is that ? Because you say so ? Well I say you have terrible opinions, so now that I say so, it must be true. This thread is terrible ? Well I say it's great. So there, it's great because I said so and my opinion is the ultimate truth and I'm the center of the universe and anyone who disagrees with me is just a fool who needs to learn from my infinite wisdom and superior intellect.
Matthew on 22/8/2011 at 10:53
NPD all up ins
northeast on 22/8/2011 at 11:03
Yikes.
I hope the new Deus Ex game is fun. If it isn't, oh well.
El_ on 22/8/2011 at 16:13
Quote Posted by dethtoll
This is the worst thread I've seen outside of GenGaming in days.
Because HL2's contrived plot and dumb "ingame cutscenes" that required you not to run around a tiny room going mad for 10 mins was better. I also liked more enemies and weapons... wait...
june gloom on 22/8/2011 at 18:54
Quote Posted by Manwe
I was just quoting random posts from you in this thread. And yeah I don't have to do more than "BAWWW NO U" to make you look like the tool you are. BH has terrible opinions ? Why is that ? Because you say so ? Well I say you have terrible opinions, so now that I say so, it must be true. This thread is terrible ? Well I say it's great. So there, it's great because I said so and my opinion is the ultimate truth and I'm the center of the universe and anyone who disagrees with me is just a fool who needs to learn from my infinite wisdom and superior intellect.
You're an idiot and not worth responding to. Try graduating from kindergarten before you try giving me shit for what I say.
