So I go back and play HALF LIFE 2

[Killergran]

Mazty said:

Yes, he moves because you want him to. Is this not true of every FPS though??

"If Gordon spoke, he wouldn't say what I want"
....In which game can you actually speak as the main character? None. This is where I call "cop out" on valves part. It's hard to make a character when they speak, not sound like a goon/prick etc.

"The other characters in the game respond exclusively to how you behave,"
Well yes, because you can't behave in any other way, other than the way that Valve want you too...Like in every other generic FPS. Only a very rare few games, say Fable, do the NPC's react to individual choices you make. In Half Life 2, the fact the NPCs respond the way they do has nothing to do with a unique player experience - it's a linear trigger system which everyone has to go through from start to end. There is no exclusitivity in it at all. My experience in HL2 will be the same as yours and every other person who has played it. This is not true for other games, e.g. Morrowind, where each persons experince of the game is different through the individual choice they choose to make. 

If it was a truly immersive expereince you would have free will in it. Which you do not. Therefore, there is no excuse for Gordon not to have a character as you have to play exactly as him, and do exactly the same every run through of the game. As I said, this is just like almost every other FPS on the market e.g. Killzone, Reistance, Halo, F.E.A.R. etc.
If you have to be Gordon right down to being the drone doing nothing but looking through his eyes, controlling his feet down the pre-planned routes and pulling the trigger at only the people Valve want you to kill, he may as well speak. If you are a slave to what Gordon wants to do, clearly Gordon is the one in control of the big decisions in the game, not you, as with most other FPS'.

Unless you think that having a mute in GTA3 made the game better. Other than perspective, there is nothing different between the two mute characters, Gordon and the nameless mute guy.

I believe you have missed the point entirely. The problem here is the difference between the character and the player. If the characters action on screen does not coincide with what the player wants to be doing immersion flies out the window. In Half-Life the player never loses control. All the actions and inactions of the character is the result of the player. There is never any distance between the character and the player.

The world around the player is limited, yes. It will always be, no matter how 'open' it is, there are always boundaries. No matter how well NPC's react to you they will always be scripted. You can always find ways to behave that are not tolerated or recognised by the game. The question is how tight to make the restrictions given the experience you want to produce.

In giving the player complete control over the character you set a different tone. It is no longer a character moving around in the world. It's YOU, moving around.There is never any break with this. You act like you want to, within the possibilities of the game. Never are you forced to watch your character doing something that you would not do.

I find Portal is the perfect example of this type of storytelling. Because it has no NPC's, the character has no reason to speak and the road is supposed to be completely linear anyways. It even gives you the illusion of free will wihtin this setting.