Wow, Half Life 2 is really not that impressive

[Gamerforlife]

I'm not ganna "cool" anything. Don't like it? Take it up with Nick. You clearly don't understand how trolling and flaming balance each other out. G4L is trolling pretty well here, and he gets props for that. But we must flame him. He's expecting it. Stop taking it so seriously.

To be honest, I'm kinda hoping Niode joins the fray with a differing, militant opinion, so I can watch the ensuing free-for-all flame fest. And then lordofduct needs to join and remind us why we're all stupid and how much more crazy his life is.

Seriously, better than wrestling. Can you smell what the Mozgus is cooking?

What, my opinions are militant now? I didn't realise you loved me that much, Ack. Personally I agree with the whole "you didn't enjoy because of all the FPS games that have come after it and pretty much ripped all the ideas off from it". You aren't playing something fresh and exciting any more, because you were late to the party you get the dregs from the keg and sloppy seconds. Games are never as exciting or cutting edge as they once were 5 years ago.

You weren't there, man, you don't know what it was like!!!

This is probably true and I get that. But you know, a lot of people still talk about Half Life 2 like it is leagues above everything else in the genre today. I guess I sort of take issue with that, but I can respect the game's place in shooter history, particularly for PC gamers(and admittedly, I'm more of a console guy). It's clearly a game and a series that has a very strong place in many people's hearts. It's sort of like that with any really big series or significant game. It can be hard being the outsider who hasn't had the game or series as deeply imbedded into his memories and psyche like others have. That's okay though.

I will say this, Portal is awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed that game. That crazy computer, the turrets and a certainly endearing box are things I already know I won't be forgetting any time soon. And damn, what an entertaining ending. All that is left for me to try on The Orange Box is Episode 2, which I started recently. Team Fortress I won't be playing as I'm not much into competitive multi-player. Some have said that Episode 2 is Half Life 2 at its best so we'll see how that goes. I'm definitely trying to give this series a fair shake

[Mozgus]

Team Fortress I won't be playing as I'm not much into competitive multi-player.

I have very rarely entered a TF2 server where teams were seriously competitive. It's a completely relaxing and hilarious game in pubs. If you don't want to play it like a twitch based shooter, then just play a different class like demoman, sniper, medic, heavy, or even engineer, which I just posted a small strategy video of sorts here.

You really are just dead set on hating anything Valve it sounds like. What's your issue with them? Did they kill your dog?

[marurun]

You know, I came late to the Half Life 1 party and while there were cool elements, very little of it was stuff I hadn't seen done before. It was alright, but there were better in that era. And then I fell behind. When I played HL2 on my PC it was (and still is) about the newest, most advanced thing my PC would run, so for me it was a really updated, new-ish FPS. But I imagine if I was playing the stuff out now and going back to this I might find bits of it sorta blah. And I can't say I enjoyed every bit of the trip. I can say I enjoyed the game overall, though. But I can totally see not feeling the love. There's no game ever made that's for everyone (except maybe Tetris or Peggle).

[Mozgus]

You know, I came late to the Half Life 1 party and while there were cool elements, very little of it was stuff I hadn't seen done before. It was alright, but there were better in that era. And then I fell behind. When I played HL2 on my PC it was (and still is) about the newest, most advanced thing my PC would run, so for me it was a really updated, new-ish FPS. But I imagine if I was playing the stuff out now and going back to this I might find bits of it sorta blah. And I can't say I enjoyed every bit of the trip. I can say I enjoyed the game overall, though. But I can totally see not feeling the love. There's no game ever made that's for everyone (except maybe Tetris or Peggle).

You're flat out wrong about any other FPS excelling over HL1 back then. In 98, HL1 was tops in all areas. We had seen nothing like it. FPSs on PC were still trying to get past the limitations of Quake 1 and its imitators, which just barely met the definition of "full-3D". Consoles obviously faired no better. HL1 came out, and that shit was literally like experiencing a professional film from a character's eyes.

[marurun]

You're flat out wrong about any other FPS excelling over HL1 back then. In 98, HL1 was tops in all areas. We had seen nothing like it. FPSs on PC were still trying to get past the limitations of Quake 1 and its imitators, which just barely met the definition of "full-3D". Consoles obviously faired no better. HL1 came out, and that shit was literally like experiencing a professional film from a character's eyes.

You clearly misread what I typed. I came to the HL party late, meaning a year or two had already passed. I would argue that Thief and System Shock 2 were just as exciting as HL. In fact, I liked System Shock 2 better than HL. Also, HL was based on a heavily modified Quake 2 engine and came out after Quake 2, so it was competing with Quake 2 and it's knock-offs and imitators as well.

[Mozgus]

You clearly misread what I typed. I came to the HL party late, meaning a year or two had already passed. I would argue that Thief and System Shock 2 were just as exciting as HL. In fact, I liked System Shock 2 better than HL. Also, HL was based on a heavily modified Quake 2 engine and came out after Quake 2, so it was competing with Quake 2 and it's knock-offs and imitators as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldSrc

[AwesomeMonstar]

You're flat out wrong about any other FPS excelling over HL1 back then. In 98, HL1 was tops in all areas. We had seen nothing like it. FPSs on PC were still trying to get past the limitations of Quake 1 and its imitators, which just barely met the definition of "full-3D". Consoles obviously faired no better. HL1 came out, and that shit was literally like experiencing a professional film from a character's eyes.

everyone always forgets about the original unreal and how revolutionary that game was...

[MrPopo]

Everyone forgets about Unreal because no one heard about it until Unreal Tournament. It was better than its competitor Quake 2, but it just didn't have the marketing to get it into the minds of consumers. Then Quake 3 came and UT came, and UT completely destroyed Q3.

[Mozgus]

You're flat out wrong about any other FPS excelling over HL1 back then. In 98, HL1 was tops in all areas. We had seen nothing like it. FPSs on PC were still trying to get past the limitations of Quake 1 and its imitators, which just barely met the definition of "full-3D". Consoles obviously faired no better. HL1 came out, and that shit was literally like experiencing a professional film from a character's eyes.

everyone always forgets about the original unreal and how revolutionary that game was...

I'm an unreal fanboy. Don't tell me what I forgot. I even captured footage of the original Unreal for youtube. Unreal is good, but UT is more popular for a reason. They discovered their niche, and they perfected it. Unreal, much like any other pre Nov '98 FPS games you guys can name, can't even come close to matching the technical achievement of HL1.

Oh my god, Unreal tells the story through text windows. How fucking high tech! This is the future, boys.

[Niode]

Shit sorry guys, I meant to quote Marurun and post this:

You clearly misread what I typed. I came to the HL party late, meaning a year or two had already passed. I would argue that Thief and System Shock 2 were just as exciting as HL. In fact, I liked System Shock 2 better than HL. Also, HL was based on a heavily modified Quake 2 engine and came out after Quake 2, so it was competing with Quake 2 and it's knock-offs and imitators as well.

Technically it was based on the Quake 1 engine and was heavily modified so that it would be a direct competitor to Quake II upon it's planned release in 1997, the game got delayed and then incorporated some of the additions Quake II brought to the Quake engine.

System Shock 2 came out a year after Half Life did. Thief was it's only other competitor around that time that you mention but they are totally different games, Thief is a stealth game that just happens to be first person. That game would have worked third or first person, it's irrelevant. System Shock 2 was more of a first person RPG than an action FPS like HL was.

IF you don't like HL thats fine, but for any game to get game of the year award by so many critics and getting 'best game ever' awards left right and centre, you've got to admit that you're going to be one of the very small minority that didn't like HL. That game took nearly 3 years of my life thanks to HL:DM and CS. Not to mention the countless mods that came out for it. Action Half Life is far too addictive for it's own good.

I edited Marurun's post instead. Sorry for that little snafu. Continue...