[outunderthestars]

I really don't want to start a fight, but does it get better than the first hour or so of it?

So far I have no idea what I am doing any point, the game stops to load every two minutes or so, I cannot clearly hear what people are saying, and the controls feel rather clunky.

Is a clear understanding of the story of Half Life 1 needed to enjoy Half Life 2? So far the game has next to no plot, and I have no idea who I am, or why I am running from the gov't, or why there are aliens everywhere. If I need the backstory, is there a good resource for reading up on it?

[disappeared]

Install it to the hard drive, if you can. Definitely worth playing.

[BravoSuperStar]

Read the wiki for HL1 and turn up your volume if you can't hear. Yes it does get better, but if you aren't into it, why force yourself?

[outunderthestars]

Install it to the hard drive, if you can. Definitely worth playing.

Will that make a difference in loading? I have a ton of space, so if it helps I will gladly install. I am interested in the game, I am just frustrated that I seem to be running for reasons I don't understand. :(

[Armitage]

You don't need the backstory. You don't know anything yet and that's kind of the point. Talking to NPCs, reading newspaper headlines etc. will fill you in on some details if you're really interested.

[Wario64]

I'm going through Half Life 2 for the first time on 360 and just finished the base game and Episode One. I hear it loads faster on the hard drive, which I did...

I played a year ago where I obviously couldnt install it to HDD and it seemed fine to me, sounds and all. Dont know why you can't hear what people are saying. The game does definitely get better later on, but I thought the intro was pretty interesting by itself. The Half Life universe seems pretty fucked up in plot anyway, even if you played both games. You still dont really know what the hell is going on. Just read the plot on wikipedia if you're interested. You'll get more out of the game if you played the first one though.


BTW, Half Life 2 was pretty damn awesome, even playing it 4 years after release. Some very awesome battles later on...

[Slavik81]

I really don't want to start a fight, but does it get better than the first hour or so of it?

No. The opening is the best part of the game by far. The style of the game does change, though.

[Angela Lansbury]

Put it on subtitles if you cant hear properly.

Also, the game doesn't directly tell you whats happened in the time Gordon has come out of statis by the G-man, because everyone assumes that you already know, as you can't really miss the big war that happened.

There was a website which had the story events of half life to half life ep 2, and portal too, but I can't find it at the mo...

[Phobophile]

Turn the volume up, and then turn it back down when you start using the submachine gun.

[kodt]

You should have played Half-Life 1 first. Tons of references are going to be lost and you won't appreciate much of what is happening at the beginning.

Yes the game does get much better in terms of action.

You aren't really supposed to know what is happening, Gordon was out of the loop for a while and kind of "appeared" in that train one day. The G-Man was involved somehow. (I am sure some fans site have detailed explanations if you are interested)

[Arch]

Don't expect some character to come along and explain everything with a nice big exposition. You're supposed to be confused just as your the character you're playing is, thrown into this hostile world and you're trying to figure out what's going on, and trust me, you will. And either turn up the NPC volume or just turn subtitles on if you can't hear. All the dialogue that you'll pick up from random NPC's is the way you're going to pick up the clues to what's happening, so it's important that you hear those things.

[disappeared]

Play it for Ravenholm and an eerie expedition to the coast. The abandoned sections of the towns are downright goddamned creepy.

[Flying_Phoenix]

So far I have no idea what I am doing any point, the game stops to load every two minutes or so, I cannot clearly hear what people are saying, and the controls feel rather clunky.

Play the PC version.

Is a clear understanding of the story of Half Life 1 needed to enjoy Half Life 2? So far the game has next to no plot, and I have no idea who I am, or why I am running from the gov't, or why there are aliens everywhere. If I need the backstory, is there a good resource for reading up on it?

No you don't need to learn much. They opened a portal to a dimension where some aliens existed and that's the gist of it.

[outunderthestars]

cool. I am installing it now, and will turn the subtitles on. :)

[truly101]

I was not a huge HL1 fan but I really loved HL2. I thought it had a better story and atmosphere. The game is a bit stilted and uneven at first, right up to where you get the gun for the hovercraft...then......then fun transpires.........................................

[jon bones]

I need to replay Ravenholm:

-in glorious HD!!!
-installed to my HDD
-for that cool achievement

HL2 is so good.

[Jaded Alyx]

http://www.members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/

That's all you need.

[jon bones]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT READ ANY OF THAT

it's filled with spoilers, why would you suggest he read that site before playing the game?!

[GDJustin]

I really don't want to start a fight, but does it get better than the first hour or so of it? So far I have no idea what I am doing any point, the game stops to load every two minutes or so, I cannot clearly hear what people are saying, and the controls feel rather clunky. Is a clear understanding of the story of Half Life 1 needed to enjoy Half Life 2? So far the game has next to no plot, and I have no idea who I am, or why I am running from the gov't, or why there are aliens everywhere. If I need the backstory, is there a good resource for reading up on it?

My opinion on Orange Box (which was my first exposure to HL2) has swung around wildly.

I was in the official Orange Box topic getting flamed to shit because I was hating on the game. Interacting with ladders was terrible, Freeman felt like a camera on a stick, the vehicles were terrible, etc.

But, now I consider Half-Life 2 one of my favorite games of all time.

I'm having a difficult time explaining this, to be honest. I don't know when my opinion swung so drastically in the other direction. It's as if one day I woke up and said "damn, I LOVE Half-Life 2" and that was that.

The thing is, all my concerns about the game were valid, but even so, the game ends up becoming more than the sum of its parts. I can't point to any section of the game and say "play till this point and if you still don't love it, maybe it's not for you" like some people will. There's no one moment of the game that I love.

What I love is thejourney the game takes you on, I guess.

My advice would be, I suppose, to stick with it. Even if your opinion never changes, you want to at least be able to say you got through the whole thing, so people can take your negative opinion more seriously. If you don't finish it, anything negative you will say will be met with "You should have played until ___." Odds are, the more you play the more you'll like it

[Bo]

Botolf's Handy-dandy Cliffnotes!

- Gordon Freeman is released from stasis (after the events of HL1), dropped twenty or so years into the future where an alien civilization by the name of The Combine has set up and shop and is slowly assimilating humanity.

- As his only friends are rebels and Freeman has achieved a sort-of messianic reputation among people, Breen (old man on the video screens) and the Combine aim to hunt him down, knowing what social and physical damage he could inflict on their constructed society.

[the rest, you shall find out as you play]

And yes, the game gets better after the first hour. It's a nice feeling to make it to the credits and marvel at the adventure you just embarked on. Valve really knows how to make a good journey.

If you haven't already, you'll want to play the HL2 episodes after you finish.

[Jaded Alyx]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT READ ANY OF THAT it's filled with spoilers, why would you suggest he read that site before playing the game?!

I meant the half-life 1 stuff. i figured he'd be smart enough to stop reading when he got to the events of HL2.

[Borgnine]

What I love is thejourney the game takes you on, I guess.

I played HL2 for the first time on 360 with the Orange Box back in 2007 and thought it was great. Then a friend gifted me a free copy on Steam a couple months ago so and I installed a couple mods and turned on god mode and just went through the game. Even then it still took quite a while and it was still a fantastic experience.

[gregor7777]

Definitely turn the subtitles on. An absolute must.

[hearsaybear]

Just started playing this as well this past weekend. I just got through Ravenholm and I am really loving it. The vehicle sequence I finished up before Ravenholm was actually somewhat enjoyable which I found suprising as I tend to hate fps vehicles. Although I do see constant complaining about this very sequence. I also installed to my hdd immediately and haven't had any trouble hearing voices (although there's no way to say for sure it was due to the install).

[Majora]

I'm having a difficult time explaining this, to be honest. I don't know when my opinion swung so drastically in the other direction. It's as if one day I woke up and said "damn, I LOVE Half-Life 2" and that was that. The thing is, all my concerns about the game were valid, but even so, the game ends up becoming more than the sum of its parts. I can't point to any section of the game and say "play till this point and if you still don't love it, maybe it's not for you" like some people will. There's no one moment of the game that I love. What I love is thejourney the game takes you on, I guess. My advice would be, I suppose, to stick with it. Even if your opinion never changes, you want to at least be able to say you got through the whole thing, so people can take your negative opinion more seriously. If you don't finish it, anything negative you will say will be met with "You should have played until ___." Odds are, the more you play the more you'll like it

I didn't care much for HL2 at the beginning either, I found it quite dull. In fact around the part where you're driving a car around the coast I was really close to just giving up on the whole thing. I found my opinions started swinging around Nova Prospekt. By the end of the game I was like 'wow'. You're right, it gives you an immense feeling of having been on a journey and the whole thing ends up being much more than the sum of its parts. As soon as I finished HL2 I played through Episode 1 and 2 back to back in the next few days and I would now count it amongst my favourite gaming experiences ever. To think I was so close on giving up on it...

(That said, I don't care for Ravenholm at all. It feels like they just stuck a chunk of some third-rate horror game randomly in the middle. It's just incongruous filler imo.)

[Masklinn]

I need to replay Ravenholm: -in glorious HD!!! -installed to my HDD -for that cool achievement HL2 is so good.

So you need to play it on a PC amirite?

Ravenhoml got so awesome the second time I played it, after discovering I could use the gas tanks and circular saw blades

I still haet those poison headcrabs though

[Des0lar]

god, Half Life 2 is such a great game.
must've finished it at least 4 times and it's still fun!

[Littleberu]

Play the PC version.

Fuck you guys are fucking annoying.

And Half Life 2 is definitely awesome, but it's a very different narrative than most FPS.

[Wario64]

http://www.members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/ That's all you need.

Thanks for the link, that explained quite a bit. Now I just need to finish Episode Two and play the waiting game for Episode Three.

[pr0cs]

if you're going to install one game on the 360 then Orange Box should be it. The game loads a LOT faster when installed.

Great experience, stick with it. It gets a LOT better and HL2:EP2 is epic.

[TheFightingFish]

My first playthough of HL2 and eps was on the 360 and I felt that it worked out just fine. It has a couple of overly long chapters (especially in the original HL2) but taken as a whole I can't really see anyone not enjoying it unless they really hate the FPS genre. Make sure to stick around for the episodes as well, I actually like them more than the original, felt like they had a better setpiece vs. hallway slog ratio.

[Camwi]

Fuck you guys are fucking annoying. And Half Life 2 is definitely awesome, but it's a very different narrative than most FPS.

Well, it would solve the loading issue, right? No need to get vulgar.

And yes, HL2 is amazing. There wasn't a single moment that I didn't love in that game. And the pacing was just perfect as they were constantly throwing you into new and refreshing scenarios.

[brain_stew]

I really don't want to start a fight, but does it get better than the first hour or so of it? So far I have no idea what I am doing any point, the game stops to load every two minutes or so, I cannot clearly hear what people are saying, and the controls feel rather clunky. Is a clear understanding of the story of Half Life 1 needed to enjoy Half Life 2? So far the game has next to no plot, and I have no idea who I am, or why I am running from the gov't, or why there are aliens everywhere. If I need the backstory, is there a good resource for reading up on it?

The details of the story are scattered throughout the world, but if you want a quick resource to be brought upto date, go here:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/

Obviously only read up to the start of Half Life 2.

[∀ Narayan]

I thought The Orange Box on the Xbox 360 used streaming and not loading?

Was that just a lie?

[gdt]

HL2 and it's episodes are some of my favorite games of all time.

God, I'm gonna replay them soon.

[Soule]

No. The opening is the best part of the game by far. The style of the game does change, though.

No way, I couldn't really get into HL2 until about 4 hours in, I didn't understand what all the hype was about until the later half of the game where I fell in love with it. I dislike the beginning/first half.

[Wario64]

I can't believe people actually hate the intro. I'm convinced these people just have no soul.

[pizzaguysrevenge]

Fuck you guys are fucking annoying.

He did complain about bad loading times and clunky controls.

[hamzik]

Got myself the Orange Box (360) the other day and am just playing Half Life 2 for the first time ever. I am 4 hours in and so far I love it.

[outunderthestars]

I can't believe people actually hate the intro. I'm convinced these people just have no soul.

What do you by the intro? The 30 seconds of the creepy guy talking to me, or the escape from the train station?

[Quagm1r3]

Like you, I was dissatisfied with the game. The difference is that I put in 5 or 6 hours before giving up on it.

[outunderthestars]

Like you, I was dissatisfied with the game. The difference is that I put in 5 or 6 hours before giving up on it.

I have not given up on, just a little frustrated so far at the lack of information given to me. The game assumes that I have played HL1. Would have been nice if they had made a cut scene or two to get me up to speed on what I am supposed to have known.

Is it going to explain to me why there are alien janitors?

[pizzaguysrevenge]

I have not given up on, just a little frustrated so far at the lack of information given to me. The game assumes that I have played HL1. Would have been nice if they had made a cut scene or two to get me up to speed on what I am supposed to have known. Is it going to explain to me why there are alien janitors?

Aliens have taken over the world. That's the story.

Playing HL1 really won't give you much more than that.

[Jack Scofield]

Half Life 2 seems like it's in a totally different universe from HL1.

In the first game, you're a normal scientist who's trying to survive an accident at a research site. The accident opens a portal which allows aliens (which, aside from the hostile Vortiguants, are mostly animals) to enter our world. Gordon defeats to bad guy, game ends.

Half Life 2. So, yeah, now the entire world has been conquered by a hostile alien race called the Combine. People live in constant fear in police-states ruled by aliens. Vortiguants are now good for some reason, and Freeman is considered messianic.

Aside from some characters, the entire Half-Life universe seems completely different from the first game.

[Bo]

I have not given up on, just a little frustrated so far at the lack of information given to me. The game assumes that I have played HL1. Would have been nice if they had made a cut scene or two to get me up to speed on what I am supposed to have known. Is it going to explain to me why there are alien janitors?

Half-Life 1 didn't have much of a story beyond "you worked at a science facility called Black Mesa, an experiment caused an anomaly called a Resonance Cascade, flooding in alien organisms, military swoops in to try to contain the situation and kill everybody who saw anything, then you defeat the creature that was sending more of the critters to earth through the portals that the Cascade opened up"

The "alien janitors" are Vortigaunts, an alien race that was enslaved in HL1 and was one of the races that came through the portals to fight you. The ankle and wrist bracelets exert some sort of mind or will control over them (the same sort of bracelets were present on them in HL1). Free vortigaunts now work with the resistance against the Combine.

As you play, there'll be a few Vortigaunts that show up, and the episodes flesh them out a lot.

[outunderthestars]

Half-Life 1 didn't have much of a story beyond "you worked at a science facility called Black Mesa, an experiment caused an anomaly called a Resonance Cascade, flooding in alien organisms, military swoops in to try to contain the situation and kill everybody who saw anything, then you defeat the creature that was sending more of the critters to earth through the portals that the Cascade opened up" The "alien janitors" are Vortigaunts, an alien race that was enslaved in HL1 and was one of the races that came through the portals to fight you. The ankle and wrist bracelets exert some sort of mind or will control over them (the same sort of bracelets were present on them in HL1). Free vortigaunts now work with the resistance against the Combine. As you play, there'll be a few Vortigaunts that show up, and the episodes flesh them out a lot.

cool. That is exactly what I needed to know. :) Off to play some more

[Bo]

cool. That is exactly what I needed to know. :) Off to play some more

Post moar impressions when you get back :D

[bengraven]

Half-Life 1 didn't have much of a story beyond "you worked at a science facility called Black Mesa, an experiment caused an anomaly called a Resonance Cascade, flooding in alien organisms, military swoops in to try to contain the situation and kill everybody who saw anything, then you defeat the creature that was sending more of the critters to earth through the portals that the Cascade opened up" The "alien janitors" are Vortigaunts, an alien race that was enslaved in HL1 and was one of the races that came through the portals to fight you. The ankle and wrist bracelets exert some sort of mind or will control over them (the same sort of bracelets were present on them in HL1). Free vortigaunts now work with the resistance against the Combine. As you play, there'll be a few Vortigaunts that show up, and the episodes flesh them out a lot.

You know, I just realized something: that lone janitor is the only time I ever see the Vorts working as slaves for the Combine. The other 99% are with the resistance.

[Sciz]

You should play HL1 eventually because it's a fantastic, groundbreaking game. Unfortunately, what little plot it has won't ease your confusion whatsoever. The HL2 games reveal more about the plot and backstory of HL1 than HL1 does.

Botolf, I forget, when were you planning to kick off the GAF Plays topic for the series? Or was that someone else?

[Bo]

You know, I just realized something: that lone janitor is the only time I ever see the Vorts working as slaves for the Combine. The other 99% are with the resistance.

You also see a bracelet-ed Vortigaunt dead in an interrogation chair inside Nova Prospekt.

After being freed from the Nihilanth, I can't imagine the Vorts willingly standing by and letting the Combine grow ever more powerful. The hidden Vortigaunt says of the situation:

(note to OP: not really big spoilers, just quotations and audio from a hidden Vortigaunt easter egg that is out of the way of the main game's progression.)
"Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread."
"Your song we sing and shall sing for eternity. No matter the consequences of this struggle."
"You have brought us grief and jubilation beyond measure."
"That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time."
"Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow."
"Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow."

Botolf, I forget, when were you planning to kick off the GAF Plays topic for the series? Or was that someone else?

I'm planning to put it up whenever Episode Three gets a release date. That way, we can play through the HL2 games over a set period of time and start Episode Three literally the day after we finish.