Half-Life 2

[I Can't Breakdance]

I've never played Half-Life and I've just reached Sandtraps and so far I pretty much have no idea who Gordon Freeman is, why these people are helping me out of the city, or what exactly it is I'm doing besides fleeing the aforementioned city and solving a few interesting puzzles.

Does it get more exposition later?

Are Episodes 1&2 better?

Also, I'm playing on the PS3, if that matters.

 

[Legion]

More exposition? No, not really. Half Life as a series never does have much in the way of explanation in-game. I actually learnt most of what I know about it from outside sources.

Does it get better in the episodes? If you mean story explanations then no, not really. They are more or less the same as Half Life 2 but carrying on from where it leaves off.

I don't believe there are any differences between platforms.

To be honest, I'd recommend reading up on Half Life 1, while it won't explain everything, it will give a better understanding of the world, even if it only explains things such as where the headcrabs and Vortigaunts come from.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

Oh boy, this thread. That time of the week, eh?

I've never played Half-Life

That's a problem you should fix. Google "Black Mesa," which is a very high quality total reconstruction fan mod of the original Half-Life, and play that if you don't want to spring for the original. I mean, it's totally worth your money, don't get me wrong, but it's up to you.[/quote]

I've just reached Sandtraps and so far I pretty much have no idea who Gordon Freeman is

The human resistance (in City 17, at least) elevated him to a messiah figure after his actions at the Black Mesa Research Facility, where a scientist with no combat training killed hordes of aliens and US Marines. While it's not overtly explained who Gordon is in-game, it's easy enough to cobble together from what the characters say.

why these people are helping me out of the city, or what exactly it is I'm doing besides fleeing the aforementioned city and solving a few interesting puzzles.

Really? How the hell did you get through Route Kanal and Water Hazard without picking up on the totalitarian police state vs resistance fighters vibe? Furthermore, how did you miss three separate characters saying "GORDON IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE BLACK MESA, GOOD TO SEE YOU" and "MY FATHER KNEW YOU AT BLACK MESA" without gathering that Gordon knew these people at Black Mesa and that Black Mesa was relevant to the plot?

Perhaps you're asking something different, like who the Combine are or something? Your post isn't terribly clear.

Does it get more exposition later?

Well, personally, I never needed much (and it's been ages since I played Half-Life 2 or its sequels - grains of salt and all that), but the narrative does get more personal and more focused. Things really pick up at Nova Prospekt and the following chapters.

Are Episodes 1&2 better?

Well, they're not as long, and Episode 1 kind of drags, but it depends on what you mean by better. They're the same combination of shooting and puzzle-solving, so if you don't like it in HL2, you'll hate it even more, but if you like it, you'll love it.

Also, I'm playing on the PS3, if that matters.

Slightly worse controls, but not much aside from that.

 

[Arafiro]

Yea, the combine are basically never explained. I think I went through two playthroughs of that game without even knowing what was actually going on in the wider plot. Then I read the wiki entries for that stuff, and I was surprised how much information was there that I'd never seen a hint of in the game.

 

[Ryotknife]

about the only part that is really unexplained is the Combine and the events between HL1 and 2, for that you basically have to look it up on the wiki as the aliens in HL1 and HL2 are not one and the same.

 

[Lilani]

I've never played Half-Life and I've just reached Sandtraps and so far I pretty much have no idea who Gordon Freeman is, why these people are helping me out of the city, or what exactly it is I'm doing besides fleeing the aforementioned city and solving a few interesting puzzles.

Does it get more exposition later?

Are Episodes 1&2 better?

Also, I'm playing on the PS3, if that matters.

Well, I think the most efficient way to figure out what's going on in HL2 is to read the plot summary for HL1. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game)#Plot]

And here is my own TL;DR version of that:

Spoiler

Gordon Freeman worked at a scientific facility called Black Mesa, and because of some inter-dimensional stuff Black Mesa was dabbling in, the facility was being attacked by aliens from a planet the scientists called Xen. They lost control of this portal technology, and a malevolent being in control of the population of Xen (including the Vortigaunts, the most intelligent creatures that inhabited Xen as far as we know) launched an attack to invade earth. In the meantime, marines and other military outfits were dispatched to Black Mesa to shut down the whole operation, by not only killing all the aliens but all the scientists and their equipment as well. Gordon fights his way through the facility and eventually gets himself transported to Xen, where he kills the creature that was launching the attack and controlling the Vortigaunts, effectively stopping the attack and becoming the savior of the Vortigaunts (thus explaining why they hold him in such high regard in HL2).

All throughout the game, you catch glimpses of a strange man in a suit holding a briefcase. He never talks with you and you never interact with him, he just stares at you, smiles, straightens his tie and walks away. Finally, at the end, he pulls you into what appears to be a pocket dimension and explains himself. This man is called the G-Man (a colloquialism meaning "government-man," a name only given by the name of his model in the game's assets), and he tells Gordon he did a good job on Xen and explains that his "employers" also believe he's done well and want to offer Gordon a job. If you accept, the game ends with Gordon being placed into stasis and the G-Man again telling him he's done a good job. If you refuse, you're transported to a place surrounded by more monsters than even Gordon could ever hope to overcome and you die.

It can be inferred from all of this that the G-Man is an alien of some sort who is associated with other aliens who are, for some reason, interested in meddling with either humanity or the other aliens who have now taken notice of humanity. This is exemplified by the G-Man's line at the start of HL2: "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world." So basically they're using Gordon to fight their battles, to what end has not been revealed at this point. The nature of the aliens that Dr. Breen calls "our benefactors" has also not been revealed in HL2 or any of the episodes. It isn't known whether they come from Xen or another planet altogether. What is known is that whoever they are, they are interested in keeping humanity locked down to achieve some end, they know of and know how to deal with Vortigaunts (though it seems the Vortigaunts don't know a lot about them, or they haven't revealed what they do know), and the G-Man also wants to see them taken down a peg (otherwise, he wouldn't have awakened Gordon to light a fire under their ass).

So, yeah. That's what I've gotten so far anyway, both from what I've seen and read about HL1 (I haven't finished the whole thing, but I've done all the reading I can to sort all this stuff out). I can't blame you at all for being confused, especially if you went in expecting a clearly defined story that explains the mysteries it lays before you in a timely fashion.

 

[Bad Jim]

Not much exposition ahead. However, you do get the bugbait at the end of Sandtraps, giving you a small army of antlions to fight for you. It is a lot of fun.

 

[ramboondiea]

half-life story: you are a guy, you are named Gordon Freeman you do some things. raaar alien zombies.

i mean really, the plot isnt as great as people say, especilly because your character is only the centre of the world...well... just because really. all exposition comes from people talking to you and innane banter, oh and for potions of your story where exposition and the main character would actually need to talk you have vance to do it, shes basically navi reminder and guiding you where you need to go.

but yeah not a bad game, and you will pick up some interesting story elements, but for the most part the story is inconsequential, although i would say episode 2 does a decent job lore wise, and is probably the only part with any really attempt at exposition

 

[Casual Shinji]

I can honestly say I've never had any trouble putting the pieces of the Half-Life lore together, and I never even played the first game.

Half-Life 2 tells its story through the environments and the situations you get confronted with.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I've never played Half-Life and I've just reached Sandtraps and so far I pretty much have no idea who Gordon Freeman is, why these people are helping me out of the city, or what exactly it is I'm doing besides fleeing the aforementioned city and solving a few interesting puzzles.

Does it get more exposition later?

Are Episodes 1&2 better?

Also, I'm playing on the PS3, if that matters.

If you're waiting for cutscenes to jump in or some dude to sit down and tell you everything then you're going to be disappointed, and are really kinda missing the thing that had so many people digging halflife's story. There is certainly more direct exposition at certain points, but so much of it is expressed through the world and your surroundings rather than other more 'obvious' methods.


An old dude or narrated flashback doesn't come up and say 'see that old farm house there, use to be a rebel hangout until the combine shelled the place, destroying it and infesting the area with headcrabs that even now still puppeteer those poor souls, they never even got a chance to grab their weapons'.

You instead go to the farm house, see it abandoned and dilapidated, you walk inside and find where the shell has crashed through the ceiling, floor and down into the basement. You see on the back wall is a lambda, the sign of the rebels, and their weapons still lie on the shelf, dusty but otherwise untouched, you open the door to the next room and are greeted with a shock as a headcrab zombie swipes at you, muffled screams and claws, it's brethren steping forward to join it.

((The fact that scenes like this are a familiar one to you as the player by now are perhaps even more telling of half life's lore/backstory.))

You have the piece together the story yourself, by paying attention and reading into the little signs and clues which are definitely and purposely put there in the environment, if you keep an eye out for them.
Though I guess being a games design student, and having purposely done essays and stuff on environmental narrative, I tended to have more of an eye for these little bits and pieces XD

 

[bafrali]

Half Life uses a different kind of exposition that relies on envioremts and level design rather than typical RPG exposition. It is as minimalistic as you can get while retaining a coherent plot in an AAA game really.

You can get the basic plot just from listening to main characters but sweetest parts of the story is reading between lines and finding those seemingly random details.

I would recommend playing the first one but you really don't need to for catching up as far as the story is concerned. Just know the aliens have invaded the earth. If you are enjoying the gameplay, go for the other episodes 2(See what I did there?) as they are much of the same, improving here and there.

Will story get any better? Well it is subjective. But I can tell you it will go on with the same design philosphy.

 

[Edguy]

You can't just jump in the middle of a story driven series like that. If you do, then you're the only one to blame.