With HL3 possibly incoming can someone explain to me what’s so special about Half Life 1 and 2?

Those games were five steps ahead of everyone else when they released. Also, according to majority of people Half Life 2 with its expansions is still the best FPS to date.
 
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You can't deny it. HL was ahead of its time in aspects like presentation, storytelling, graphical and physics innovation. As someone who isn't a big Valve fan, I can't deny the impact their games had in the industry.

I never wanted HL3 but if Gabe himself said he never done it because they had nothing new to bring to the table back then, it only means they must have found that something special and unique that represents the name of this franchise. You can only be excited to see what it will be.
 
RCX said:
In modern terms lots of games have surpassed it. But at the time nobody had combined narrative with cutting edge visuals and brand new mechanics in the way they both did.

Like Woodstock, you had to be there. 😂

Just finished HL2 again a week or two ago. Still kicks ass.
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So would you say it's almost impossible for HL3 to reach the acclaim of the first games because it would require it to do something that hasn't been done before to make it stand out from other big budget adventure games.
 
The first game challenged the classic design of maze like map layouts with gameplay elements separated from the story. Half-Life put you in the center of all happenings. It melded video games with storytelling in a way never seen before and set a new standard. Half-Life 2 brought a massive new smorgasbord of purely technical innovations and an easy to use engine that inspired user content and even full games to be created using the Source engine. I think Half-Life 3 will be more of everything.
 
One needs to understand them in their historic context. Each game brought new technology and innovations in gameplay mechanics.
Playing HL1, which was released only two years after Quake for the first time and you see the loader robot during the tram ride... Is that skeletal animation as foretold in the prophecies?!
You had to be there.
 
Both games genre defining and set the bar for narrative driven FPS games. Whenever Valve releases a new game it usually hits hard.

They're like Blizzard back in the day; when they were the gold standard for releases. Create something so good, with great innovation that the rest of the industry follows.
 
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HL1 and 2 were different from most traditional shooters at the time. Most shooters of that time were more linear and has missions/levels. HL 2 in particular with the gravity gun gave it a unique weapon that was unique to shooters for the time and diversified gameplay and strategy. Also the game felt like one continuous journey as opposed to structured by missions. Moving from place to place in a weird/interesting setting, and a compelling story.

It doesn't hold up all that well if you go back and play it now. Mechanics, graphics, etc have been far surpassed, but at the time the games were great.
 
The storytelling in HL1 was a big leap forward at the time. The physics, too.

Playing it now, you would have no idea. But back then, it was a big deal.
 
Both games were like playing a peak game in its genre an entire generation early. Imagine getting to play Super Mario 64 with Super Mario World just releasing.
 
I didn't game on PC back in the day, so when The Orange Box came to 360 I played through HL2 and the Episodes there for the first time. I thought it was fine, but nothing amazing. I get that they pioneered new tech back at a time when it wasn't common, so it was amazing for the people who played it years before. As a console kid, I honestly have more fond memories of playing other FPS games from that era like Borderlands, Halo ODST, and Singularity.
 
Can we get a mod to change the title to: 'With HL3 never coming out, does it even matter when HL1 and HL2 are so fucking good?'
 
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What other 20 year old game holds up the same way as HL2? It was absolutely revolutionary for its time. Both in terms of presentation and gameplay.
 
HL2 is still one of the best first person shooter games I've ever played. You feel like you're traversing one massive of area. The atmosphere and isolation field spot on. The characters are likable. The technology at the time was really amazing. Overall, it just felt like an epic game.
 
Possibly? Huge doubt but would be great if true.

Half Life 1 and 2 are just amazing games. I like the atmosphere and the mystery surrounding Black Mesa and the G-Man. It doesn't spoon feed the player and just organically delivers it's narrative without a ton of bullshit exposition. You are there and this is happening, there's great agency to the whole thing and the gameplay is fun.

They also hold up really well in my opinion, Half Life 2 in particular is a lot better than the majority of modern shooters.
 
GulfCoastZilla said:
So would you say it's almost impossible for HL3 to reach the acclaim of the first games because it would require it to do something that hasn't been done before to make it stand out from other big budget adventure games.
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Honestly, I'd be more interested in Valve dropping Source 3 as an alternative to UE and dropping a new L4D3, TF3, and Portal 3 on us than HL3. It would be 100% impossible for HL3 to live up to the hype at this point. Someone else said in another thread to bring on Orange Box 2.0 and man, I'd be so down for that.
 
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Back when Half-life was announced and shown through publications like PC gamer etc it was running on the QUAKE engine and the idea was to have something deeper built on top, ALMOST a mod/mission pack but a lot more expansive - a whole game- the QUAKE engine was designed for this very thing. Some of the first mods had them increasing texture color depth and other things but they ended up customizing it so far the HL1 engine is - while still based on QUAKE, its own beast... Here are some things that made it special at the time : The world where you walked around and NPCs would engage you , - not unheard of but not something common to quality shooters at the time-. . .Dynamic loading- the levels loaded at intervals instead of taking you out of the action. The game focused on INTERACTING with objects like pressing buttons/ using health stations and picking up and moving things. The setting was cool- the story was cool and it was all presented in what was- for its time, a top tier graphical presentation. Because it got so much RIGHT and so little wrong- it had a big following. The second game essentially was the game which spearheaded STEAM and started the PC game digital marketplace as we know it now-

Halflife and Halflife 2 were the tech beds for some of the most POPULAR and ambitious mods... Team Fortress was originally a QUAKE mod but once it moved over to the halflife /valve side of things and many many other mods that I need not name- it created a kind of "ecosystem"- The "EPISODE" games which came out finally were another foray into the world as were the PORTAL games- after which we were given nothing- cold turkey. They tried multiple times to create new halflife games but they did not live up- it would be like the final godfather sequel or like shenmue 3 or something where it goes out with a "fizzle" and you remove your good name in the process.

PLENTY Of games did "half-life" after half-life did. Sometimes games did it with better humor, plenty of times with better graphics- but they rarely hit all the buttons ... If you've played through Half-life, Opposing force, and Halflife2 and its EPISODE games- what people are excited for is a mix of the MEME of halflife-3 AND the idea that "imagine if they could wow people the way they wowed them at the time"- Someone who comes in cold with expectations and plays the Original games probably wont appreciate that those were NEW experiences (or packages of experiences) 20 -25 years ago. A quarter century ago HALF-LIFE was sharing the market with games like QUAKE 2 and GOLDENEYE and SHOGO mobile armor division (another banger by the way, but may induce cringe in some audiences)..... We were spoiled later by games which kept the good mechanics but often fell short in heart.
 
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I only played HL2.

I can't really explain it either because in reality it's just your standard SP FPS game. When it came out there was a million more I had already played and was going to play. Something about the shooting, levels, and just overall gameplay though was so damn good. It's like how ER is very similar to DS but in an openworld but it's different in ways that just elevate it beyond even Dark Souls.
The story was also really good but I wish it would have been expanded on more.
 
I don't know. I guess it had a bit more plot and a bit more variety than the average shooter at the time, but it was at the cost of mediocre gunplay.

I will say that HL2 is better and holds up to other FPS campaigns, but that's because those kind of faded away.
 
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I was a couple of years late to that party. And I enjoyed them. They certainly had their moments. But I never raved about the experience as much as others did. A tincy wincy bit overated for me.
 
It was a moment in time that'll never be seen again. 3D cards, popularity of the nascent internet, unbelievable mods like Day of Defeat. A truly remarkable game, and somehow its sequel lived up to the impossible hype.
 
In the late 90's (HL) and 2004 (HL2), it was a very big deal. But if I'm being honest, so many good games have released 20 years after HL2 that have surpassed it. It's nostalgia and hype at this point.

If a HL3 ever does happen, it's going to be held to a much higher standard today.
 
diffusionx said:
HL3 is a meme at this point
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No its not. for their time, they were the best FPS games around. even the VR HL:A that was released couple of years back is the best single player VR game.


if this game is announced, it will crash the internet.

with that being said. I don't think we will see anything related to HL. I am not sure why people keep bringing this and bloodborne. every fucking event.

like..people should just learn how to let go.
 
rodrigolfp said:
So was or were there some before it??
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you have to ask ChatGPT

Season 2 Lol GIF by Insecure on HBO
 
As a sucker for physics in videogames, hl2 was kinda of a dream game to me.
(to bad i had a shitty pc so i had to play it with many caveats)
 
If HL3 comes out, all I hope is that it's well produced and a fun experience.

I can't force myself to give it lofty expectations because we all know it won't reach whatever crazy expectations the audience has.

I just want an ending to the events of HL2E2.
 
HL2 and the launch of Steam was such a watershed moment to me. It really felt like the beginning of a new chapter in gaming.

Also, Ravenholm is still one of my favourite memories playing video games.
 
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GulfCoastZilla said:
So would you say it's almost impossible for HL3 to reach the acclaim of the first games because it would require it to do something that hasn't been done before to make it stand out from other big budget adventure games.
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Not impossible, Half Life has always pushed the medium forward - it would just have to find a way to do that
 
The Half-Life games used groundbreaking tech to advance gameplay and atmosphere in ways never seen before. HL1 with scripted sequences and audio , HL2 with physics.
 
they basically evolved the genre twice, and half life 2 is legitimately still a great game to this day.
story is shit though.
 
artsi said:
They were special

Nothing special about them in 2024
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Wrong. Half-Life and Counterstike has been some of the worlds most played games for decades, and still is. All of which are based on a mod on Half-Life, then went onto Source engine.

Millions of gamers have played HL to some extent and the games are still relevant to this day. If they do finally decide to release a new proper sequel its going to be a monumental event, all over again.
 
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If you played either game at the time of release you would understand what is so special about them.

In a nutshell they where groundbreaking.
 
Story telling without taking control away from player, the game is 95% pure gameplay. Tech as an integral part of the game design, during the time when tech advances used to sell games.
 
hinch7 said:
Wrong. Half-Life and Counterstike has been some of the worlds most played games for decades, and still is. All of which are based on a mod on Half-Life, then went onto Source engine.

Millions of gamers have played HL to some extent and the games are still relevant to this day. If they do finally decide to release a new proper sequel its going to be a monumental event, all over again.
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Yes I lived their release, played the first versions of Counter-Strike etc. and they were great games back then.

But I mean if you give HL1 or HL2 to a 15 year old today they wouldn't find anything from them some modern game doesn't do better.
 
A lot of tech you take for granted in games now were pioneered in HL1&2. They're still exceptionally well made games today, but if you didn't experience them at the time, you have to play them through the lense of what they achieved.
 
GulfCoastZilla said:
So would you say it's almost impossible for HL3 to reach the acclaim of the first games because it would require it to do something that hasn't been done before to make it stand out from other big budget adventure games.
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Yep. That's why I don't want it until they have something like that. Something I really have never seen or experienced before.

Odds are they won't do it for that reason. If that's the case, good on 'em
 
artsi said:
Yes I lived their release, played the first versions of Counter-Strike etc. and they were great games back then.

But I mean if you give HL1 or HL2 to a 15 year old today they wouldn't find anything from them some modern game doesn't do better.
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People still go back to playing those games - https://steamcharts.com/app/220 Granted HL2 was given free with the 25th anniversary.

A good game doesn't stop being good with time.
 
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If there is a HL3 coming why would we think it's going to be special? Probably 80% of the original devs have moved on to other things. It will be made by a completely new and younger dev team.
HL Alyx was good but it's not on my top 5 VR games. I've only completed it once but there are other VR games I've completed multiple times.
 
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