| Scoobes said: Well, yes it is linear, but the point of the mute protagonist is as I have said, to maintain that YOU are Gordon Freeman. You have the story unfold before your eyes as you decide to experience it. The story might be limited, but its the little things you notice in the game that make the story special. The whole point is that you don't have anything to serve as a reminder that you are playing the game. In games like KoToR, you're constantly reminded of the fact its a game by having the dialogue constantly asking for input, but that's fine, its an RPG where that is needed. In a FPS, where the action is far more intense, having that would break immersion. And leaving things to your imagination is actually where a lt of the older games have their charm, especially in the RPG genre. Take games like Planescape Torment which is heralded as having the best writing in a game. The technical restriction of the time meant you had to use your imagination to fill in lots of blanks because the tech wasn't there to animate it. What Valve did was make you feel like you are Gordon freeman rather than a player that controls someone else with a seperate voice and seperate personality. I'm not sure what you mean by schizophrenic, I always find myself immersed in the 1984 style world Valve created. Maybe you should go back and play HL Source, as that was set in more modern times before the Combine. Might be why you feel it's a different world but with elements in reality. Just note its a 1998 game. |
"As you decide to experience it"
How is my experience going to be any different to any one elses?
"The whole point is that you don't have anything to serve as a reminder that you are playing the game."
Other than the invincible NPC's, and being mute..
As much as you keep saying "You are Gordon Freeman", well, what's the big deal with that?
In any other FPS you are someone else. In UT2004, you are yourself. In the CoD series, you are a soldier. As HL2 is limiting in the world it presents you, it never truly feels like you are actually someone as you are herded every step of the way, just with invisible methods e.g. linear path, invincible NPC's etc. The problem I find is that HL2 is far too scripted. Every event just has NPC's talking at you rather than to you. I can be bouncing around a room or messing with props and the NPCs carry on almost like drones. Yes the game is technically limited, but the fact that you never get to speak winds me up and it feels like I'm just a tool with a gun rather than a living, breathing character in a living, breathing world.
