Now that the dust has settled, is Half-Life 2 a worthy sequel?

>>381153587
>Now that the dust has settled all over the PCs that were supposed to be used to develop Half-Life 3 ..

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yes. although I prefer HL1, HL2 is very good and unique

>>381153587
It's good but HL 1 is still by far better

Nah. We just got a shittier version of HL1, now featuring a physics engine. The story, gameplay, and (arguably) got worse

>>381153587
It's not. I also miss some of the more horror elements of the first one.

>>381153587
I dunno, it doesn't really have any of the aspects that made HL1 so great, and the new things it tried didn't really add much to the game.

The most defining characteristic of HL1 to me is the "hazardous environment", ie. what the HEV suit is named after. It genuinely feels like you are constantly in extreme danger, which is what makes the game so suspenseful and immersive. HL2 feels way too relaxed, even though the story is supposedly more urgent.

i like half life

>>381153587

I was just thinking about it today and nope, it's shit compared to HL1. The level design is boring, the vehicle sections suck and weapons are bad (mostly poor audio, they sounds abysmally bad) but by far the worst part is the story and the setting.

The 7 hour war thing makes absolutely no sense. There are literally no signs of it anywhere in the game. A war that massive would leave the planet looking much worse than it looks in the game (it looks pretty much like Poland).

>>381153587
It's utter fucking trash.
I, like everybody else got memed into it in 2004 and thought it was THE SHIT back then. I replayed it in 2016 after all those years and finally saw it for what it really was; just shit.

>shit guns
>shit gunplay
>shit enemy ai
>shit enemy variety
>shit level design
>build around memetic babby's first physics puzzles even today's tryhard indiedevs can do better

It's unironically inferior in absolutely everything but the graphics compared to HL 1. Even then HL2's graphics aged just as horribly as HL1's did.

>>381154998
ok

>>381154998
>build around memetic babby's first physics puzzles
but anon, that's because they were

>>381154628
I also like half life 2

Alot of people who say Half-Life 2 was shit take the features the engine introduced for granted now.

>>381154998
Actually, the AI and the guns were better but they discovered in play testing that everyone is a fucking retard so they actually toned it all down.

SMOD is closer to the original Half-life 2 than half-life 2 is.

>>381155672

Such as?

>>381155339
Except back in 2004 they impressed the majority of people because literally no game before it has done something even remotely to such extend.
Whereas replaying the game now and having to do those puzzles just feels like a bore chore.
I guess it all boils down to HL2 having utter shit gameplay that didn't stand the test of time.

>>381155990
muh physics

>>381153587
the dust hasn't settled yet you impatient fuck just give it time

>>381155885
>Actually, the AI and the guns were better but they discovered in play testing that everyone is a fucking retard so they actually toned it all down.
Cool story, kid.

>>381155672
That's because HL2 is more of a glorified tech demo than an actually solid and tight video game like HL1 was.

>>381155990
>Facial Animations that are better than most modern games
>A relatively in depth physics engine
>Actually using said physics engine for game play purposes
>Pretty detailed scenery

>>381156214

It was not even their own physics engine, they used Havok middleware.

>/v/ hates HL2 now
what the fug

>>381154998
You're a meme

>>381156572
It was really only havok at the bare bones, most of the features people like in source physics were added by valve

>>381156348
Try playing SMOD or EYE sometime, they restore lots of the original features into the game. Though EYE obviously is more of its own thing.

It's actually well known that the HL2 beta was much better. Even had shit like terrain morphing. Hopefully they brought that back for source 2.

>>381156610
this meme's been here for a while now

>>381156529

>Facial Animations that are better than most modern games

There are like 3 minutes of facial animations in the game and all most of them are in completely scripted sequences and the ones that aren't (reload doctor freeman etc) are shit. The underlaying animation system is shit but since it was used so little they could hand craft animations for those few scripted sequences.

>A relatively in depth physics engine

Nope and it wasn't even their own.

>Actually using said physics engine for game play purposes

Those puzzles might entertain a toddler but I always found them boring and the gravity gun gets old too.

>Pretty detailed scenery

I suspect we have played completely different games, your copy seems to be from some alternate timeline where HL2 didn't suck.

>>381157126
fucking what, every NPC had facial animations, even the combine under their masks

>>381157126
>There are like 3 minutes of facial animations in the game

You wot? There's like an HOUR of people chatting while you're stuck in a room with them unable to progress. It's easily the biggest flaw of the game. Replay it some time.

>>381157126
Sorry, but in this case everything you said was wrong.
The source engine is actually quite good and the underlying tech that was there was excellent. Even the ideas behind all the shit was good. They just scrapped so much that the game became a bit lackluster. Even so, it's better than most games. HL1 is just an excellent game. The only real bad thing in HL2 is the guns feel a bit "weak" but a lot of the more powerful guns were actually scrapped during development.

>>381154546
I love HL2 but I totally agree. HL1 was full of environmental shit that would kill you instantly, not in a gamey trap way but in a live powerline way. The way it handled death was a big part of it, no cutscene etc, just instant gibs, gross sound, suit flatlines. It was really clinical and really horrific.