Bounty Hunter Archive
Thread: whoa...
In Halflife 2, it's all about showing how cool a game can be made. Story? Who needs it.
Cool game mechanics can only go so far, a compelling story reigns supreme. A combination of the two...perfect.
In regards to Half Life 2, it has a storyline with total mystery and intrigue as far as I can see...so it does in a way. But Halo...I personally like the story concept better, than just being dumped into it without much knowledge of whats happening. Then everything you do has a meaning, and you know your purpose.
But if you want hard...Master Ninja level on Ninja Gaiden Black. you will cry.
Heh...
A friend of mine has a friend who used to beat Halo 1 on legendary once or twice a week. He was truely a halo god...
Then he got a girlfriend, and lost interest with Halo 2. Figures
Phenix1050 wrote:
As far as hard goes...the "Legendary" setting on Halo 2 is sick. Harder by a great magnitude than Half-Life 2. I died countless times in Halo 2 Legendary, but I finally managed to beat the single player campaign on Legendary by myself. I felt like I had cured a disease or something. It was an experince. I beat the last 1/2 hour of Half-Life 2 without dying once. The charged-up grav gun was just a god-like weapon. It wasn't even a challenge.
But if you want hard...Master Ninja level on Ninja Gaiden Black. you will cry.
heh, try Insane on Armed and Dangerous.
A 1st person shooter isnt made for story. RPG's are.
Thats a stereotype
You could say Halo 2 had a better storyline than SWG... heh
Reydon wrote:
In Halflife 2, it's all about showing how cool a game can be made. Story? Who needs it. We have awesome guns, and cool things going on. I find that to appeal to me more. I have really lost caring for stories ever since I played Chrono Trigger, and realized no RPG would ever compare.
every game should endeavor to give you a purpose. I love FPS games and "certain" RPG games. I hate the Final Fantasy style game where you have infinate time to decide your attack, etc. I prefer RPGs like KOTOR, SWG and Jade Emprire, where twitch skills help (less so in KOTOR, but if you don't pause it, the game plays a lot like an adventure game, rather than a standard RPG.
But despite my love of direct action with good twitch skills, physics is simply not enough. Halo 1 stunned the console world with the inverse kinematics and the Warthog bouncing games you could play. lots of fun, sure. But in the end, what I loved about Half-Life 2 was the "learning" what the Combine was about. Discovering what exactly was going on, where you were, what the heck was going on was the best part of the game. Once you do that...the game suffers. The physics are...amazing. But that only goes so far. Once you get past the coolness of the grav gun...and the gorgeous graphics, you need to have a core game. And Half Life does a good job of having solid shooting segments and unique puzzles.
But I found myselfgrowing detached from the game. Past a certain point, it's just another run n' gun game with great graphics and the ability to do some hilarious stuff with the grav gun. Halo, I didn't find that. I found myself compelled to find out what exactly was driving the covenant, what would happen to the Arbiter. And now I can't wait to find out what happens to Cortana. That is the advantage of having a story. You are always drawn to the next chapter, the next game. Half Life doesn't always do that. Halo does a great job of making you care about the characters because you know what happens to them even if you're not playing as them because of cut-scenes.
Even Valve has unofficially agreed the need for a fleshing out of character development with their expansion which delves into the life of Alex.
StarNick wrote:
Heh...
A friend of mine has a friend who used to beat Halo 1 on legendary once or twice a week. He was truely a halo god...
Then he got a girlfriend, and lost interest with Halo 2. Figures
Halo 2-- Took me about 2 months of dedicated play.
Randall Glass is my hero!
Also, the funniest warthog moment I have ever encountered:
On Blood gulch, I got a warthog to the top of one of the forts where it was just hanging off a bit and wedged between two sides on the top. I was playing around with a friend, doing tricks and spins...he was on the other side, doing whatever he was doing.
I tossed two plasma grenades onto the 'hog, and hit it with a perfectly placed rocket...the result?
The Spinning Warthog of Doom
I swear the thing was spinning full revolutions in seconds...and the BEST part? It was hurtling straight for my friend...who tried to run and avoid it. But like an anvil out of a loony tune cartoons, you saw the shadow creep up on his character. It was almost like the warthog was homing onto him.
Then...
*Splat*
Dead friend! And the funniest Halo 1 warthog trick I have ever done...
every game should endeavor to give you a purpose. I love FPS games and "certain" RPG games. I hate the Final Fantasy style game where you have infinate time to decide your attack, etc. I prefer RPGs like KOTOR, SWG and Jade Emprire, where twitch skills help (less so in KOTOR, but if you don't pause it, the game plays a lot like an adventure game, rather than a standard RPG.
Well, SWG is a MMORPG. KOTOR is an RPG. Twitch doesnt help RPG's often. And you want a purpose? You had a choice in HL 1: join G-man or die. If you refused, you died. If you accepted, play HL 2. You want the purpose? G-Man tells you to.
But despite my love of direct action with good twitch skills, physics is simply not enough. Sure it is. It shows what a game can do. I'd rather have upfront fun killing hordes of stuff, then bothering with a story in a FPS. Halo 1 stunned the console world with the inverse kinematics and the Warthog bouncing games you could play. lots of fun, sure. But in the end, what I loved about Half-Life 2 was the "learning" what the Combine was about. Discovering what exactly was going on, where you were, what the heck was going on was the best part of the game. Once you do that...the game suffers. The physics are...amazing. But that only goes so far. Once you get past the coolness of the grav gun...and the gorgeous graphics, you need to have a core game. And Half Life does a good job of having solid shooting segments and unique puzzles. It's all about making a game that is superior in all ways but story. And they suceeded.
But I found myselfgrowing detached from the game. I spent 25 hours with no sleep trying to beat HL2. Different taste.Past a certain point, it's just another run n' gun game with great graphics and the ability to do some hilarious stuff with the grav gun. Things change so often, it's rarely all the same. Halo is the same thing. Go to a big area, kill a lot of stuff, get a vehicle, go to the next area, kill a lot of stuff, get armed up, go to next area. Over and over and over.... Halo, I didn't find that. I found myself compelled to find out what exactly was driving the covenant, what would happen to the Arbiter. And now I can't wait to find out what happens to Cortana. That is the advantage of having a story. You are always drawn to the next chapter, the next game. Half Life doesn't always do that. Halflife's fludity in the game, it's ability to show you new things. Being able to control creatures, sacrifice them to make it by yourself, it's need for you to think, makes it great. Halo does a great job of making you care about the characters because you know what happens to them even if you're not playing as them because of cut-scenes. I played Halo 1, and I can honestly say I never once cared if a character was killed.
Even Valve has unofficially agreed the need for a fleshing out of character development with their expansion which delves into the life of Alex.
HL2 is better for the fact that there is more to do. Crappy story, yes, I wont deny that, but I will deny the accusations saying HL2 doesnt keep you into it. You get new guns constantly, and learn to use them. You need strategy often. It's more complex, but not in story. Halflife 2's goal, IMO, was to make a landmark game showing the peak of graphics and physics in the gaming world. And they suceeded. I have 512 mb ram, I can barely run the game, lol.
Reydon wrote:
Well, SWG is a MMORPG. KOTOR is an RPG. Twitch doesnt help RPG's often. And you want a purpose? You had a choice in HL 1: join G-man or die. If you refused, you died. If you accepted, play HL 2. You want the purpose? G-Man tells you to.
With the improvement in the LoS code in SWG, knowing where to run is a HUGE part of gameplay now. It's also "dynamic" insofar as you cannot stop combat to choose your next attack. You must know where to go and what to do (at least if you're like me and don't run a macro). As I stipulated about KOTOR, you can play the game as a standard RPG (pause combat, choose attacks, let enemies attack, choose attacks, etc.) or you can play it in a more dynamic sense, never pausing, and having to switch between characters quickly to make your party effective.
HL2 is better for the fact that there is more to do. Crappy story, yes, I wont deny that, but I will deny the accusations saying HL2 doesnt keep you into it. You get new guns constantly, and learn to use them. You need strategy often. It's more complex, but not in story. Halflife 2's goal, IMO, was to make a landmark game showing the peak of graphics and physics in the gaming world. And they suceeded. I have 512 mb ram, I can barely run the game, lol.
The getting new guns thing is a staple of all FPSs. Halo does the same. Dual weilding adds to that to a degree that is amazing. The fact that a needler is one of the most efficient guns against Brutes, while ineffective against Elites and Jackals, adds to the decision-making you must make. Unlike Half-Life, you have limited weapons. That in and of itself is a very interesting game mechanic. Choice is good. In Half-Life, there are few times that I choose to use the pistol once I have the SMG. In Halo, I keep a pistol because with a plasma pisol in the other hand, it is an amazing powerful combo that leaves me an additional slot for a 3rd weapon.
Again, Half Life 2 succeeded in creating a visually amazing game with an incredibly robust physics engine. Halo created a story, a character with a history and a personality, and focused on telling that story. Sure, you simply run to new areas and kill stuff...but mostly the same is true of Half-Life 2. Neither of them shatter any of the conventions of the FPS world. They simply focused their attention on different areas. Half-Life focused on the presentation-- the "form" of the game. Halo focused on the "function". The story is interesting, as is the history of where the Spartans came from (read the Fall of Reach for some insight). Again, I would never claim one is "better". They both held my attention for a long time and are both amazing forays into the FPS genre that will be imitated time and time again. But saying that story is unimportant in a FPS is like saying graphics aren't important in a RPG.
If I had to choose between a game with a great graphics and no story, and a game with great story, but clunky graphics and a third game which was decent, but didn't excel, at both, I'd choose the latter. Doesn't matter the genre. Jade Empire wowed me in both gameplay and graphics, which is why it's a great game. Same with Ninja Gaiden. Great games, but not because they were the "best" in either one category or the other, but because they above average at both and presented a "complete" game experience. If Halo 2 had better graphics and more unique weapons, I'd like it more. If Half-Life 2 had better character development and a more coherent story, I like it a lot more. That's not taking anything away from those titles, again, they simply explore difference facets of the same genre, proving the variety which can emerge in a fairly straightfoward genre.
Painkiller doesn't have to have a storyline, you are going around killing demons and stuff. Why? Who reall cares.
Half-Life 2 tried to pull off a cinematic style of gameplay without the storyline, and frankly, it failed. Halo 2 tried to pull of the same thing and passed with flying colors. Sure, you can immerse yourself in both for hours on end, but at the end of the day, HL2 just leaves you with nothing. You WANT to know more, but it just ain't there. While Halo 2 on the other hand, you feel fulfilled, until you reach the ending which is a cliffhanger for a reason.
I enjoyed HL2 greatly, but I will always say that Halo 2 beats it as an overall game. There is no doubt that HL2 lets you do cooler stuff, but it doesn't have the support of a fleshed out storyline to really work.
Yes, it's late so I am having problems putting my ideas together in such a way that people other than myself can understand where I am going. I think I will go to bed now.
"Thats a stereotype
You could say Halo 2 had a better storyline than SWG... heh "
Message Edited by Lord_Eoin on 10-05-2005 11:27 PM
Yeah, im gladBungie didn't fall off/rush itat the end like KOTOR 2s(kinda like the overall story of HL2, rushed and unimmersive). They actually got it well enough that your sure a 3rd installment is coming without wondering "**edit** just happened there!!" "How!?!?""Thats it, thats the end?!" "Don't play the credits, explain, please!"
jm_preiss wrote:
You see though, that is the problem. People are wanting games that boast to be awesome for their graphics and physics engines to be more immersive. If you want a run and gun game, play Serious Sam. Serious Sam is awesome becuase you just run and gun, and even it has a storyline.
Painkiller doesn't have to have a storyline, you are going around killing demons and stuff. Why? Who reall cares.
Half-Life 2 tried to pull off a cinematic style of gameplay without the storyline, and frankly, it failed. Halo 2 tried to pull of the same thing and passed with flying colors. Sure, you can immerse yourself in both for hours on end, but at the end of the day, HL2 just leaves you with nothing. You WANT to know more, but it just ain't there. While Halo 2 on the other hand, you feel fulfilled, until you reach the ending which is a cliffhanger for a reason.
I enjoyed HL2 greatly, but I will always say that Halo 2 beats it as an overall game. There is no doubt that HL2 lets you do cooler stuff, but it doesn't have the support of a fleshed out storyline to really work.
Yes, it's late so I am having problems putting my ideas together in such a way that people other than myself can understand where I am going. I think I will go to bed now.