Mazty said:
Scoobes said:
It's not simply about story but the way the story is presented to the player. The way Half-Life 2 tells its story is all designed on immersion. The story itself isn't presented to you on a platter like in Final Fantasy or Halo. The story is implied rather than stated outright. It's funny you mention SotC as the game design philosophies aren't that different. Presenting story via gameplay.
Your comment about Alyx shows that much the subtlty in the game went over your head; Alyx's father was a fellow survivor from Black Mesa. When you reach Black Mesa East, Alyx mentions how much Gordon has been the topic of conversation. Alyx's liking of Gordon isn't some mad infatuation that just occurs when she meets him. The tales of Gordon's survival and heroic deeds in Black Mesa have been spread by the fellow staff/survivors. At their first meeting Alyx is effectively meeting the rebels hero figure for the first time.
This probably explains my points better:
http://mchughmanuscripts.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/why-i-love-alyx-vance-a-scientific-analysis-of-half-life-2-part-2/
"Of course, Freeman can’t topple an entire extraterrestrial government alone. One of Half-Life 2’s major strong points is its well-written and appealing cast of characters. Freeman’s main allies are Dr. Isaac Kleiner, a resistance scientist, Dr. Eli Vance, Freeman’s former colleague, Barney Calhoun, a resistance informant who works with the Combine, and Alyx Vance, Eli’s daughter. Kleiner is a classically neurotic scientist, akin to Doc Brown in the Back to the Future series, whose stilted vocabulary and domesticated headcrab (a primary enemy in the game that attempts to eat your brain) cause the player to revel in his eccentricities. Eli is a sympathetic father figure who is forced to see his daughter in increasingly dangerous situations, and his feelings make the narrative events much more significant. Barney Calhoun is Freeman’s optimistic best friend, the kind of guy who jokes about Freeman’s signature crowbar and how he owes Freeman a beer.
While these characters could be seen as traditional character molds adapted from movies and literature, albeit molds that are executed excellently, Alyx is a character that completely breaks established conventions. Alyx is Freeman’s main companion, and is an amicable and charming comrade that wins over players’ hearts with her tough-as-nails exterior yet sensitive personal feelings. Her introduction into the game immediately causes the player to treat her seriously: after getting ambushed while unarmed, Alyx single-handedly saves the player’s life. As opposed to annoyingly useless sidekicks that fail to make an impact or even hinder the player’s progress, Alyx is consistently helpful and disposes of enemies with ease. Alyx defies conventional feminine stereotypes in gaming and beyond: she’s not a buxom floozy whom the player is forced to protect for the sake of gameplay variety, but a nimble patriot that the player is thankful to have. Alyx also has believable emotions that are put to the test during the narrative situations. With enemies and combat constantly pursuing the pair, their conversations are limited to brief intermissions in elevators or other transit. Thus, the game’s intense run-and-gun sequences are punctuated by character development that always leaves you wanting more. Alyx’s emotions reach a hilt when the Combine captures her and her father. She is fearless even when she is staring down Dr. Breen himself, and spits in his face when he mentions Alyx’s deceased mother. Alyx’s believability is aided by the game’s impressively emotive facial structures that coincide well with the top-tier voice acting. Alyx is necessary on a mere gameplay level as well: she is particularly skilled at hacking Combine computer terminals, and the player needs her tools to advance in the game’s world."
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Because when you are a scientific mute rambo in a giant cliche its going to be immersive..No, just cliche. The story is non-existant. Unless you have played the original game, which is a wholly rediculous requirment given the age of that game, you won't understand jack. The story isn't even implied. If you have played the original game, the story is very, very thin. If you haven't played it, the story is non-existant.
The difference with SotC is that the entire game presents to you this lonely world with one boy & his horse out to save a mysterious girl by taking down these titans. However, what the game has vastly contrasts HL2. In SotC you have a magnificant orchestral score which contrasts the silence of running around the tranquil plains and the ever growing feeling that something just isn't right with killing these creatures. HL2 however just has you bumbling through a world as a mute rambo-scientist with people talking AT you - that part right there makes it rediculous, and the fact you are held to such high esteem whilst having women drop to their knees is just a sad nerds fantasy.
Here's a real world truth - if you say jack shit, no girl is going to take a liking to you, more so when she sees you for the whole of 5 minutes. That's just cliche at best. Also as I said, expecting the player to know the story of HL1 is not acceptable considering the small platform gaming was when the original was released.
Klein - cliche
Eli - cliche
Barney - cliche
Alyx - cliche
Alyx is nothing more then a nerds wet dream - tits with guns that gets a crush on the player. It's just pathetically hilarious. I was laughing during the confession scene in the elevator as it was so pathetic. If you compare REAL LIFE to the characters of HL2 there is nothing believable about them, and in terms of storytelling, again nothing believable or original.
Plus this overlooks another point - what fucking storyline?!?! You wake up, teleporter goes wrong, a lot of shooting later, the end. Praising this game for it's story is absurd and nothing more then the relic of an elitist attitude from the days when PC Gamer was a niche magazine.
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I find it hilarious that you call all these characters cliched and the story nothing believable, yet you mentioned Final Fantasy VII and X... because the entire casts of both games weren't cliched in the slightest! Tidus, Tifa, Cloud, Rikku, Barret, Cid, Yuffie... they all follow common Japanese anime sterotypes.
Maybe you should actually have a look at main female characters in most video games before you complain about Alyx. Most of them are horribly cliched and are genuine "nerd fantasies" as you put it (at least half the female characters in all Final Fantasy games could fit that bill). Alyx by comparison actually shows human traits of strength, emotional vulnerability and love for a father. All of these factors are implied throughout the game rather than outright told to you in a script or cut-scene.
Also, I already explained why she takes to you (or your avatar/Gordon Freeman). Gordon Freeman isn't just mute, he's also the figurehead for the Resistance and a highly regarded individual amongst the Black Mesa survivors (again, implied in the game). The whole concept of a silent protagonist is that he becomes an avatar for you. If you have difficulty with that as a concept then your going to struggle to enjoy any game with a silent protagonist.
@ bolded, I was right. The subtlty was obviously beyond you if that's all you took from the story. You don't need to have played the original because everything you need to know about the story is actually in the game. The references to the "Black Mesa" incident in HL2 should be more than enough if you actually care to listen to the conversations as you traverse the game let alone the actual events of HL2 which you don't seem to have registered at all. Those characters talking "AT" you, they're kinda explaining the story 
