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Mazty on 15 December 2012
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Scoobes said:
Mazty said:

I played HL2 from start to end. I saw the notes saying "seven hour war" etc and still the story is piss thin. I'm not going to write here how Halo has the best storyline evar when, in the grand schemes of gaming, it's merely adequate. I feel that is exactly what HL2 fans are doing - giving undue praise to the HL2 story. Adequate/good for an FPS? Sure. Good for a game? Nope. 


Okay, let's go back to the beginning as no HL2 advocate has ever given me a direct answer to the below:
What precisely makes HL2 a good story when we consider it is quite thin and cliche? Surely those features make it pretty poor on the grand scheme of game storylines?

Making the grav-gun essential for a few missions is hardly ground-breaking in terms of gameplay. Technologically, sure, but since when did we hold games in high esteem for just tech reasons?

Two things? 
1) Weapon limit from unlimited down to two.
2) Melee
3) Regen health
4) Quick access grenade.
5) Iron sights

That's five things. Five MAJOR features that drastically alter gameplay and has been in almost every FPS since Halo. What games had those features? Even TS didn't if I remember things correctly. Quake, doom, CS....Which FPS' you thinking of?

Games that used these features before:

1) Rise of the Triad (1994) had a weapon limit (not two though; 3 bullet weapons (pistols & MP40, and 1 extra magic or missile weapon). Rainbow 6 had a 2 weapon limit (1998).

2) Duke Nukem 3D (1996) had a quick shortcut for Duke's boot. I'm sure their are others but this is the first that came to mind.

3) Like I said, this one is an innovation introduced in Halo.

4) I believe quick grenades were in Team Fortress Classic (1999) and Soldier of Fortune (2000).

5) Delta Force and Hidden and Dangerous (1998 and 1999 respectively) had iron sights.

As for your question, the reason people don't answer you directly is because we disagree with you. The story is neither thin or cliched, especially when considering the comparative quality (or lack of) video game storylines. The characters follow established tropes, but that doesn't automatically make them cliched. Alyx who you say is a play on nerd fantasy is one of the few female characters in video games that actually portrays natural emotions, wears normal clothes and isn't just put in for eye candy. She doesn't even flirt with Gordon, just treats him as a friend and ally, but apparently, that constitutes nerd fantasy.

I've already tried to explain to you why the story isn't thin. Yes, aliens attack Earth, but all the events are being directed by someone in the background. It isn't just a simple and generic alien invasion as in most sci-fi games (even Mass Effect simply constitutes preventing an alien invasion). Everything that occurs in the events of HL1-2 are all being influenced and setup by the Gman. The resistance/revolution is only a small part of a larger whole. Episodes 1 & 2 expand on this and show the Vortigants helping Gordon and Alyx to escape. The Gmans control of Gordon starts to wane. There is nearly as much depth/detail in the world and story as Mass Effect, you just choose to disregard it. It's arguably less generic in the grand scheme of things. You even choose to disregard the Gman who gives those who like the story a sense of intrigue and mystery.

Really, most video game storylines are so ridiculously cliched, generic and bland I don't see why you think Half-Life 2 is so bad.

However in Raindbow Six the emphasis was on realism hence the limit. Halo was finding a half-way between realism and infinitely deep poclets. 
How is the story not thin?  Compared to most RPG's the story is incredibly thin and it is cliched by your own admission some posts back about the characters. You lead a resistance against an alien force that has taken over the world - there is no twist, it is as black and white as that. That is a cliche. 

How is falling for a rambo scientist who hasn't said a word "natural" in any way? The only word that pops to my mind is "absurd". 

Someone in the background who isn't explained whatsoever....Why not have it all as "just a dream"?  ME has the history of an entire galaxy and numerous races as well as wars, and you think that is the same as some dude in a suit doing some stuff (no one knows) and a bunch of aliens spilling through a portal? RIiiiiiiiiight. The problem is you want to see HL2 as a great story regardless of what is actually there. To compare it to ME which has pages upon pages on story to one which can be summed up in a few measly paragraphs is just illogical. 

Don't you think it's contradictory how you argue that HL2 has a great storyline and then seem to confess as the end that all game storylines suck? Saying "oh all video game storylines suck" means then that you shouldn't be praising ANY game for it's story. Plus it also shows you haven't played games like Mass Effect (ignoring 3).