Half-Life 2 Interview

[Julio Caesar]

I totaly agree with this guy, no people, not even the game developers themselves, are paying much attention to story, and a good story can make a videogame sooo great. The biggest example that comes to mind is max payne, which has one of the best stories in a game I've ever played with. I'm so sick of all these new console games that come out with no story and are all just arcadey peices of shit.

[kerosine99]

guys -- is it just me, or was the coolest part of the hl e3 2004 video when he was just chilling with the people from city 17? like when he's walking through the apartments... listening to conversations. I thought that was the most amazing development of atmosphere and it really convinced me there was a world before my eyes. its like something the best books can do.



thats why half life is amazing.

[HowlinMadMurphy]

Yes! I loved that part. The people seemed so real, like the couple in the other room crying and comforting each other. It's little touches like those that make the characters more sympathetic and the gameworld more immersive. Like Doug Lombardi said, you'd think that people would have ripped off those kind of elements from HL. I hope better stories are the wave of the future, as opposed to inane, twitch-happy gameplay (though that stuff is fun in small doses). And I agree with #15. Max Payne had a great noir storyline (though a bit campy, just the way I like it), and complex and well-developed characters.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Yeah, I liked both Max Payne's as well, though the ending of the second one was a bit... odd to me.



I'm thinking, as far as HL2 is concerned, I'm going to have to unbind my quickload key. I am absolutely horrible about saving after every few kills, and quickloading if a battle didn't go as well as I would have liked, and that can just destroy the atmosphere.



I mean, the first time through those apartments would be awesome, experiencing all that stuff. But when if you hear the exact same words 20 times as you pass by someone, it no longer was fresh and immersive, but rather monotonous and annoyingly repetitive. I sure hope I can avoid that side of things. :)



Oh, and while I'm at it, is it just me, or are those Striders frickin' beastly? Seriously, several rockets and scattered crowds of people shooting at them, and they hardly flinch. I'm guessing regular bullets don't hurt them? If so, though, why are all the friendlies bothering to shoot at them? One way or the other, I hope the friendly AI does more than merely appear to be attacking your enemies, in terms of effectiveness.



Kind of sad that they seem content running into big open areas under the legs of the Striders with big "skewer me" signs on their backs...

[kerosine99]

I do exactly the same thing when it comes to quicksaving and quickloading, to the point where even if I lose 1 armor point or waste 10 bullets I'll quickload back to before the fight.



I guess I'm neurotic like that.



But as for HL2, I'm not sure how strong strider's are, but they should definitely be beastly. And, I have a strong feeling that we definitely won't see the death of one before the release of the game. I'm thinking they want it to be an "Oh SHIT" moment like the first time you kill a Garg or an Apache in HL1. God damn its like war of the worlds... and I love it.



The best thing about playing through Half Life 1 was that I really felt as if it were me playing, and I genuinely felt bad everytime one of my scientist collegues died. It was really awful seeing the scientist run right into the trip mine...



However, after the 2nd time through the game... I could care less about the characters, and I don't mind killing barney for an extra 17 bullets if I have to leave him behind.



I wonder if there's any sort of love interest in the game... I sincerely hope not.

[Pharlap]

kerosine99 wrote..

I don't mind killing barney for an extra 17 bullets if I have to leave him behind.

heeh those were the days. i would keep reloading after i killed him to see in what interesting ways i could kill him. and dont forget how if u kill a sicentist all the barnies start attacking you. boy that was fun, seeing their guts go everywhere as you lure them into a bunch of tripmines.

-:Nighthawk:- wrote..

I am absolutely horrible about saving after every few kills, and quickloading if a battle didn't go as well as I would have liked, and that can just destroy the atmosphere.

well theres only 1 way to stop that - dont allow quicksaves :)

[HowlinMadMurphy]

I too am a compulsive quicksaver. It's like I have to get through every level with full health and armor, in case I face some imaginary encounter that will require me to be undamaged to survive.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

LOL, along with that comes the weapon hoarding, saving your powerful weapons for that seemingly unbeatable foe that you're sure is coming up in the next part.



I can't tell you how utterly pissed I was the first time through Half-Life, when I got knocked out by the troops and lost all my precious, precious weapons that I hadn't even used yet, heh. I must have spent a good half hour trying to lob grenades into that room and setting up tripmines in the vain hope of changing the outcome of walking in there... :)

[HowlinMadMurphy]

Right on, Nighthawk.