Before Half Life 2, I should play Half Life [spoilers]

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:25 am

I bought the original way back, but for some reason never got very far with it. Uninstalling the game destroyed my games directory and wiped out at least 10 ongoing games, so I never touched it afterwards. Now that the sequel is finally out I suppose I should revisit the original - assuming that bug with the Sierra uninstaller has been patched by now. Should I only play the original or is it worth getting the expansions that came out after?

RookieCAF · Post by **RookieCAF** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:27 am

Yea, Just plug in your Key to Steam and play that version, No Patching the old version. Its a great game still, and worthy of play.

GungHo · Post by **GungHo** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:04 am

*AT LEAST* play the original. Op:For was fun, but I never played anything past that, so I cant say.

And while you don't *need* to play the original to enjoy or even "understand" HL2(the story is purposefully left unfinished and unclear) I do think you'll enjoy the series more if you finish the original.

Besides like Mad Hatter said, it's a fun game that still holds up well(with somewhat blocky graphics for sure), today.

Jancelot · Post by **Jancelot** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:24 pm

Yes, I would heartily recommend playing the original as it'll make you appreciate the story more. Even the very beginning will make more sense. I played both expansions and, while fun, they aren't necessary.

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:45 pm

I'm playing through Half-Life for the first time as well. I am up to the Lamda core section, and am looking forward to slogging my way through. It's lost some of its luster to me, given the whole crate pushing/mashing thing. But, the soldier AI is still pretty good even against today's shooters. I have blue shift and opposing force and have been lead to believe that they are much shorter than Half Life. If that's true, I will probably give them a whirl as well (I would prefer that they be shorter rides, so to speak).

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:50 pm

If you're trying to get through to get to HL2, I would recommend playing HL1 through to the Xen part (you'll know it when you see it) and then considering a console cheat to get to the last map to see the ending. Xen really drags. Then pop in OpFor for MOTS (good) HL with some interesting plot elements.

Never played Blue Shift.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:31 pm

HL1 is one of my all time favorite games... definitely worth playing IMO. Some sections have dated -- too many "gotcha!" monster spawns, too much crate-bashing. But its highlights are still pretty amazing. Blast Pit, On A Rail, We've Got Hostiles, Gonarch's Lair -- classic shooter stuff. And it is wonderfully paced -- the way it alternates "fast" and "slow" sections was the watchword for HL2's design, and is something a lot of shooter designers still haven't mastered. Essential playing for connoisseurs of the genre.

OpFor IMO has the best firefights of any half life game -- including HL2. Some of the battles with the alien Shock Troopers and the Black Ops soldiers are just insane. On the other hand some of the puzzle/jumping gameplay in OpFor is pretty tedious, worse than HL1 in my opinion. Well, except maybe the Xen bits, which are annoying (they don't invalidate the whole ending of HL1 in my opinion though). And replaying OpFor over Steam I noticed more of those ^*&(@ "gotcha" monster-spawns which really seem pretty cheap to me now. "Oh look! A Vortigaunt appeared behind you! You're dead! Now reload and use your psychic powers to anticipate when it happens!"

Blue Shift isn't bad, just very short. I played through it in something like 3-4 hours.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:41 pm

I would skip it and go right to HL2. That's what I did.

I tried to play the original, and it just didn't grip me. So I gave up (although I played the hell out of the multiplayer aspects). HL2 grabbed me by the throat from the get go, and hasn't let go since. I'll probably go back and play the original afterwards.

I doubt that I'll remember anything spoilerish.

Eel Snave · Post by **Eel Snave** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:23 pm

There's a lot of great moments in HL1. OpFor is okay too, though, especially with the soldiers that fight with you.

jpinard · Post by **jpinard** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:36 am

Yes, absolutley play the orignal first. It's great, an I actually liked the story more than HL2.

gorham09 · Post by **gorham09** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 7:21 pm

Well, I finished the first one last night. I used a walk-through for XEN since everyone said it was tedious. It wasn't bad with the walkthrough. I ran right through all of Xen in a few hours. I hate Boss battles as well, so the startegy guide was key in making that painless as well.

POTENTIAL SPOILER
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I must say, the VERY end of the game was bizarre. I had to do a google search to figure out if that was the end or if the game had locked up on me.

leo8877 · Post by **leo8877** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 7:52 pm

Oh yeah, the setting is infinitely better than HL2. Black Mesa is just too damn cool.

Eel Snave · Post by **Eel Snave** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:51 am

I never had a problem with Xen. It was a little hard at times, but I don't see what all the griping was about. I thought it was incredible.

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:33 am

I decided to go ahead and buy the Silver Half Life 2 pack, since that includes Half Life and Opposing Force. With the fall of the American dollar it's actually cost effective to buy from US sources again - it works out to the same price as buying the game retail here, and the retail box doesn't have the original Half Life. Now I just have to wait for it to download.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:38 pm

I played the original HL, just picked up HL2 the other day, and I STILL don't know what the hell is going on.

I am not one to play an FPS more than once, so when it came out originally, it was shelved and/or sold not long after it came out.

Now, (how many years later?) I keep getting these in game comments (n HL2) saying "OH Gordon, how are you! " and "Hey Gordon, you remember Mr. X!"

I sit there, look at the guy/girl's face, scratch my head a wee bit, then practically scream at the monitor "NO?!!??! That was years ago! I don't even remember things from 2 weeks ago!"

At that point my wife leaves the computer room (the Cave) just shaking her head and covering our daughter's ears whispering "don't listen to Daddy, Sweetie"

Edited to turn rant into potentially useful post: Anyone care to remind me of how HL ended so I can enjoy HL2 more?

A little more exposition on the background would not hurt HL2 I think. If they had released HL last year or even year before, ok, I can see a direct transition...but man, it's been a while to expect us to remember NPC's from a game that old. Maybe I just need to take some ginko or whatever.

[insert here - awesome icon that someone here has with an old fart shaking his fist ]

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:08 pm

How Half Life ends (SPOILERS)
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You travel to the alternate dimension of Xen, aka the "Border World," to kill Nihilanth, a huge floating baby who seems to be commanding the hordes of Xen aliens sweeping through Black Mesa.

Once you have killed Nihilanth, you are visited by the G-Man, who stands in front of a series of fantastical Xen backdrops. You and the G-man keep teleporting from one bizarre local to the next as he talks. He congratulates you on a "nasty piece of work" and says that Xen is now "under our control." He offers you a job with his eh-eh-eh-employers, because "they agree with me that you have limitlesssss... potential." You find yourself in a train car floating through space, and there is a portal outside that you can enter if you want to take the job. You can choose to accept, or to decline (if the latter, you are teleported into a room full of deadly aliens), and that's where the game ends.
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Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 5:27 pm

Thanks, Blue. A huge floating baby? Really? Either you are messing with me or maybe I never finished HL like I thought I did...

Sheesh...I do vaguely remember being transported/teleported from one place to the next but I must say the floating baby comment has me scratching my head.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 5:46 pm

MORE HL1 SPOILERS
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Well he's not literally a baby, but this is what the Half Life boss looks like:

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Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:11 am

OK, what the hell...now I KNOW I didn't finish it! What was I smoking?! And I'm pretty sure I traded it in ...gyahh, no wonder I don't know what's going on in HL2! (but honestly, I am so mesmerized by the pretty shiny graphics I don't care!)

Thanks for the history lesson Blue.

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:14 am

Ack, suddenly this thread has end game spoilers. I'm still only going through the first parts of the game.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:17 pm

Zoiks...sorry...one of my posts prompted that...