Half-Life 1: Better Than Half-Life 2? - General

[QUOTE=Ezhik;52522789]i'm a sucker for atmosphere and aesthetics so hl2 all the way for me also i spent thousands of hours in gmod and various source games to the point where i still recognize the stock source engine sfx even though it has been years since i played any of the games hl2 is my home[/QUOTE] I still, to this day, think of Half-Life every time some random anime, show, movie, whatever uses a stock sound that happened to be in Half-Life 1 or 2. I played way too much Sven Co-op and Gmod as a kid :v: [sp]JJBA Part 2 used the HL2 RPG sound effect a lot, for example.[/sp]

For me it basically goes: HL2<Half-Life<Blue Shift/Opposing Force HL2 definitely has aged the worst.

[QUOTE=Ezhik;52522789]i'm a sucker for atmosphere and aesthetics so hl2 all the way for me also i spent thousands of hours in gmod and various source games to the point where i still recognize the stock source engine sfx even though it has been years since i played any of the games hl2 is my home[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;UPpMMfMDDkI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPpMMfMDDkI[/video] @ 4:08 The feels. Love how the video showcases how vast HL2's world is.

[QUOTE=Nabile13;52524704][video=youtube;UPpMMfMDDkI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPpMMfMDDkI[/video] @ 4:08 The feels. Love how the video showcases how vast HL2's world is.[/QUOTE] damn, that makes me really miss old memories of garry's mod and half-life 2 over a decade ago :( i used to just get such a nice feeling whenever i would launch garry's mod in sandbox on whatever map there was, and just do whatever i wanted. the best way to describe it was just feeling extremely "comfy" with the engine i guess. it felt like there was so much to explore and do, and because i played so much i really just felt at home with all the sounds, textures, movement, and everything. it just felt so comfortable. and there was the old garrysmod.org too, filled with lots of unique content to explore nowadays i just don't get that feeling anymore. last time i checked years ago, one of my favorite addons, vmf suite, that had a pack with hundreds of creations, no longer worked. i don't get that sense of exploration anymore, and the workshop is filled with horseshit, even if you filter it. sure there's good stuff every here and there, but the amount of shit you have to wade through is insane i don't know, i just feel like everything is too "sleek" or "modern" and "at your fingertips", and that there's absolutely 0 sense of exploration or adventure anymore. i miss the old days of having to download addons manually from garrysmod.org and unzip them and put them in the right folders. sure the workshop is so much more convenient, but i'd just like to experience the old times again. i don't want to be there forever of course, but it's like replaying an old game again. it was such a great time and i'd like to revisit all those feelings

I like HL-1 more.More enemies,better AI,HECU>Combine soldiers,more weapons that are way more original than HL2 ones if we don't count Grav gun.We have Xen in HL-1 and it's more original than Citadel,Black Mesa desert>Europe because we have too many games which take place in "forests" and not so much in deserts.

[QUOTE=GrizzlyBear;52520270]Half Life 2's world, characters and storytelling makes it way better for me personally.[/QUOTE] I feel like now that the dust has settled and the novelty of Half Life 2's long, kind of interactive cutscenes has worn off, it's become apparent that the game actually doesn't have that many good [I]gameplay[/I] segments. Ravenholm, to me, is the shining point of the game both in terms of gameplay and visual storytelling. The gimmick of that chapter is extremely enjoyable even to this day, the levels are just complex enough so that it feels like you're smart while playing them without getting stuck (something Portal 2 is also excellent at doing), it introduces quite a bunch of new enemies which come out as a surprise the first time and as a challenge the other times, and it has some incredible music.

[QUOTE=Drewsko;52520252]It's certainly a question worth considering,[/QUOTE] I don't even need to consider it. The simple answer for me is "yes." There's so much I could complain about but it's 4:30 AM and I don't want to write out a full-blown analysis. Mostly: vehicle sections are boring, the setting was much better in HL1, and I prefer HL1's combat. HL2 was a technical achievement but frankly I don't give a shit about how pretty a game looks if it's not worth playing to me.

To me the biggest problem with HL2 is putting Gordon Freeman, the quintessential non-entity fps protagonist, into a world where he supposedly have close and personal relationships with the other characters. It´s kinda like he is this black hole which my suspension of disbelief leaks through.

it's weird to me that people are saying hl2 is better for atmosphere because i personally found hl1's atmosphere to be more immersive, as someone who is very much drawn into games by their atmosphere. not that hl2 is at all a slouch in that regard, and i prefer hl2 in general, but there's just something about being trapped in a cold underground metal box that seems to just endlessly sprawl with no end, and in there with the deadly aftermath of a supernatural incident the likes of which has never been seen before. it all feels almost entirely helpless, and the only outside response you get are attempts to simply kill everything there, and those glimpses you get of the surface are so fleeting. and then on top of that, when you reach xen it feels like a truly alien world in a way that very few other fictional "alien worlds" do. not to mention how extremely genuinely fucking unsettling the nihilanth is. maybe it's actually the older graphics and aesthetic that add to that feeling, but after playing it recently i feel like it's really one of the most atmospheric and immersive experiences i've had. like, so much so that after playing it again i really don't feel like touching it again for a long while because the atmosphere feels so genuinely cold and dreary and claustrophobic that there was an actual sense of relief once i finished the game and got out of it. on another note, another thing i really liked about hl1 is that there's relatively a lot of weapons crammed into the game, but there wasn't a single one (minus perhaps snarks imo) that ever became redundant. by the last few levels i was still making use of pretty much every gun i had and they all that their own purpose that kept them from being useless. and it's kinda weird that i can write that much about how much i like hl1 and yet i still like hl2 more and while i don't feel like droning on much longer i do want to mention that apparently contrary to popular opinion, i really enjoyed the vehicle sections of hl2. highway 17 is probably my favorite level in the game, which is partly because the world just feels so huge and open during that section. like, as you're driving along the coast road and looking out over the water, and you occasionally come across little houses and towns, etc. also the bridge part is probably my favorite moment in the whole game. i also really enjoyed water hazard as well as route kanal (the latter of which may be partly for nostalgic reasons). and even though i enjoyed them a lot too, the nova prospekt and city 17 battle levels felt a little drab in comparison. but god is that super grav gun fun as fuck

The winner is... Half Life Opposing Force!

i really liked half life 2 but goddamn the pistol and the smg felt like total dogshit the pistol sounds like you're shooting absolutely nothing

Half-Life 1 feels atmospheric because it has better sounds for general machinery and the whole facility sounds like a giant factory, while Half-Life 2's sounds are very-very generic and they don't really help in Citadel, which is a giant every changing mechanical porn that should feel more substantial/weightier than HL1's sounds. I used to play HL1 without music and valve did a good job filling every little nook with little ambient sounds where they should be. [editline]31st July 2017[/editline] HL2's sounds definitely lack punch. The shotgun deals good damage yet doesn't hurl your screen around and its sound is shit.

[QUOTE=Zaure;52524733] and there was the old garrysmod.org too, filled with lots of unique content to explore nowadays i just don't get that feeling anymore. last time i checked years ago, one of my favorite addons, vmf suite, that had a pack with hundreds of creations, no longer worked. i don't get that sense of exploration anymore, and the workshop is filled with horseshit, even if you filter it. sure there's good stuff every here and there, but the amount of shit you have to wade through is insane i don't know, i just feel like everything is too "sleek" or "modern" and "at your fingertips", and that there's absolutely 0 sense of exploration or adventure anymore. i miss the old days of having to download addons manually from garrysmod.org and unzip them and put them in the right folders. sure the workshop is so much more convenient, but i'd just like to experience the old times again. i don't want to be there forever of course, but it's like replaying an old game again. it was such a great time and i'd like to revisit all those feelings[/QUOTE]Going on the old garrysmod.org was like being a kid in a candy store. When I finally figured out how to install addons I just went nuts and started downloading everything. Nuke packs, wire mod, lightsabers and hoverboards. I remember even joining FP just to say how much I loved the old Stargate addon.

I liked Xen more than the Citadel. I know valve thinks that because they set up the citadel from game's start that it has more impact but it feels so empty and boring. Xen is so fucking creepy and the textures are gross and horrific and alien. Valve's philosophy on setting up final levels be damned, xen felt conclusive and satisfying to reach the alien homeworld and kill their giant master. The citadel fight: YAWN. Oh boy flinging special orbs at an old man who looks as threatening as your local pensioner. The nihilanth was a giant lovecraft elder god that you could use any weapon to kill and felt like a threat. HL1 also just feels more b-movie sci fi ish, with it's technical limitations leading to comically stereotypical "scientist mans" and the whole Black Mesa complex feels like the long forgotten remnant of peak cold war spending, now cavernous and rusted, very creepy, like portal 1's aperature, the rusty textures of the final escape chapters really give you a gigantic world underground "I have no mouth and I must scream" feel.

I have to disagree with Xen being better, Xen just felt like a chore. All the platforming sections were a bitch to get through and the final boss wasn't exactly what I'd call fun. The Citadel was great on the other hand, being a fucking monster with the upgraded suit and gravity gun was a fucking blast. But alas I played these only this month so I don't know much about replayablility.

In the context of first playthroughs, I have to say the Citadel left a greater impact, imo. It was really cool to finally enter the huge tower that was looming over you throughout the entire game. Plus the Citadel itself plays a greater role in the next 2 games.

also I hope I'm not the only one who had a problem with the grenades in Half Life 1, they always kind of rubberbanded all over.

HL2 does a better job making its world seem real. HL1 doesn't [I]really [/I] have story characters the way HL2 does. HL2's graphics are getting old but they don't run the risk of being blocky or cartoony, which I think lets it be a bit more believeable. HL2 also does more than tease the outside world occasionally. You visit many different areas and levels of the city, and you spend a lot of time outdoors seeing the landscape in the outskirts, even if some sections already look like thrown-together custom maps. You also see a lot of places on the outside before you go in. That's not to say that HL1 doesn't have some great set pieces, but they don't feel as immersive when you're running around through them. HL1 is loads of fun to play but I have an easier time thinking of HL2's story without getting distracted by the fact that it's a game.

I prefer Source movement to GoldSrc movement

Judging by the fact that I'm always wanting to replay the first Half-Life and its expansions I would reckon it's definitely a better game in terms of gameplay. It doesn't have to worry about age since the gameplay is very, very solid, and for whatever reason I think the graphics have aged better than HL2. That's not to say HL2's gameplay is bad by comparison, but it is the difference between an A+ and maybe a B+/A-. HL2 showed that it is possible to marry good combat and great storytelling, though, so overall I think it is a much more significant game.

I've been playing HL2 Update with some beta skins and a minor tweak to the SMG in stats (replaced it with the OICW and minorly boosted damage for both NPC and Player but dropped its ammo pool to 150), and honestly, it feels weird. When you pay attention to the mapping everything looks so bland despite the atmosphere they put into it all, and you can practically see metrocops struggle to figure out how to approach you through a doorway if you happened to clip them in the shoulder. I think somehow Half-Life 1 became more endearing to me as the years went on by knowing how the engine worked and treated numerous things, while Half-Life 2's seams almost feel like they're practically waiting to unravel themselves around every corner and it just feels.. off.

aside from gameplay I genuinely think the HL2 Pulse Rifle is one of if not the coolest looking, sounding, and feeling futuristic weapons in video games. Everything about it is so meaty and cool I fucking love it.

[QUOTE=Zaure;52524733]nowadays i just don't get that feeling anymore. last time i checked years ago, one of my favorite addons, vmf suite, that had a pack with hundreds of creations, no longer worked. i don't get that sense of exploration anymore, and the workshop is filled with horseshit, even if you filter it. sure there's good stuff every here and there, but the amount of shit you have to wade through is insane[/QUOTE] gmod.org was full of horseshit too. you were just younger and didnt care. i was the same way i remember my most downloaded submission on gmod.org was literally just a save file in portal 1 in the glados arena

[QUOTE=Lord of Boxes;52526077]aside from gameplay I genuinely think the HL2 Pulse Rifle is one of if not the coolest looking, sounding, and feeling futuristic weapons in video games. Everything about it is so meaty and cool I fucking love it.[/QUOTE] I still can't get over the fact that HL2 smg has two barrels for some reason and one of them apparently fires a grenade thrice it's diameter. Also all the cops are using pistols for competitive shooting because reasons.

I just prefer HL2 over how much more fun it is than HL1. To this day, I still have fun fucking around with the physics. The physics weren't just a gimmick, made the world feel real and made it fun. Now when a game has something like a gravity gun, it's a puzzle tool or a gimmick weapon but with HL2, you could grab a crate, barrel, or box and use it for quick cover and it would eventually break or use it to stun or damage an enemy. nowadays there's just a can or bottle you pick up and throw to distract an enemy and ragdolls are just there. Bloodborne has wooden stuff that breaks into even more pieces and it has ragdolls too but boxes are just there to hide an enemy or a secret. What was special about Source is that the ragdolls had weight and this is something I rarely ever see. In Gears of War, you fight the Berserker which is a terrifying, hulking mass of muscle that breaks through walls and pillars and it takes way too many bullets to take down so you have to get creative or use superweapons to take down but it loses its scare factor right after you kill the first one and it turns into a weightless ragdoll that flops around and gets stuck between your legs