re: Half Life 2

The G-Man wouldn't want anyone capable of talking back, now would he?

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They wanted to immerse the player into the universe and to be Gordon Freeman. Half Life 1 or 2 were by no means the first game to not have your character speak as a means of immersing you in the game, but it is still a very effective tool, as seen by the first Dead Space or Bioshock.

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This is an opinion, just like mine. There are better ways to immerse a player in a world than silent protagonist.

yes. I spent a long time looking at stats. Smh

I have no idea wtf is going on in this game. I just pick it up to play when I'm bored and its just fun as frick. As far as story goes I'm completely lost. Just riding a POS jet ski through the sewers at the moment.

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Isn't the point of "art" to have different interpretations.

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Yeah, but "different interpretations" has nothing to do with with a silent or vocal protagonist. Crono and Cloud are silent protagonists but the storylines in Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII are both pretty straight forward.

Journey and Limbo, just to name a couple of recent examples, have silent protagonists but those games have loads of meaning to debate over.

However, I feel like I'm not understanding your criticism.

Regardless, I think the decision to have Gordon silent was made for immersion sake more than anything else. It's the only game I can think of off the top of my head that NEVER takes control away from the player or changes the perspective from first person. I really like that about the series and it helps me get involved in the story in a way something like Uncharted, with it's extremely well defined and vocal hero, doesn't.

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It's just other NPCs projecting who they want Freeman to be on the character, which doesn't rate that highly in my book. However, I'm just shocked that having a different opinion means I'm "missing it"

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I personally don't think you are "missing it." You get it, you just don't find it to be an effective method for involving you in the story and game.

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Great game

or

greatest game of all time?

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I think it's a great game and certainly "up there" with the greats. If you had asked me the moment I finished it years ago, I probably would've said, "Yep! Greatest ever!"

But now if I go back and play it, a lot of the physics based puzzles seem really out of place and kill some of the game's momentum. To me, it dates the series a bit. You can tell Valve was in love with their physics engine and physics in a FPS (to my knowledge) hadn't ever been done like that, so it makes sense.

Episode 1 and 2 largely did away with these types of obstacles, and I think it's a reflection of this realization.

Even still, everyone should play through all the Half-Life games. They stand the test of time for the most part.

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None of this is correct................IMO.

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That's cool, but I'll expand on one thing just to make sure I'm clear. I love the gravity gun and the gameplay opportunities it opened up. It allowed a player to be creative with what it used as a weapon and I love stuff like that. (Also, the end of HL2 with the powered up gravity gun is one of my favorite video game moments ever.)

I'm specifically talking about puzzles where you are stacking bricks or metal drums to weigh down one side of a seesaw, or removing them to allow a gate to lift, etc.

These just feel out of place and gimmicky to me, but I didn't think that back when I first played it.

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These just feel out of place and gimmicky to me, but I didn't think that back when I first played it.

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There are a lot of things in games that feel gimmicky and out of place. It's to break up the gameplay and offer a change of pace. Boss fights comes to mind as something that takes you out of the routine and makes you have to think a bit.

I've never had a problem with it unless it becomes too invasive.

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In my opinion, the thing that can ruin a game the most is when you don't like the main character.

I can think of several examples where I hated the main character and I simply couldn't play the game or take it seriously. Final Fantasy X is probably the greatest example. I thought Tidus was an annoying piece of shite that ruined an otherwise solid game.

I don't think people enjoy playing as characters that don't represent themselves in some way. A silent protagonist ensures that it does represent you. You learn about the character through the conversations of other characters.

At the same time, it almost never ends well when a character without a face/voice is given one in a sequel. Diablo never said anything except 1 line in each game. In Diablo 3 she talks too much and it ruins the story completely. In FEAR you play as a faceless/voiceless character. In FEAR 3 you see his face and he looks like a hobo Jesus, and completely ruined the series for me.

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i know it's totally subjective, but i completely disagree. mutes take me out of it. i loved dead space 2 so much more because isaac talked. felt like a tool for fetch quests in 1

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How about in games like Zelda, Megaman, or Dark Souls? They're all great examples (imo) of mute protagonists that immerse you into the game by making the protagonist's goals and your own line up.

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zelda is probably the only exception for me. dark souls doesn't count because nobody talks