I have recently decided to replay through the orange box on my 360, thinking that we may be seeing some info about episode 3 surfacing soon, and I have been enjoying it, as always, but I really cannot stand the silent protagonist thing, it really throws me and takes me out of the game.
I think the only part in the game where I felt any connection to the character at all was when you step onto the HEV suit and it is suddenly on you (because that is how things work apparently) and then he lifts his hands and looks at the gloves, that was the one moment when I thought, hey I aren't just a hovering camera with a gun.
I know valve wanted to create the game to be as immersive as possible but, despite having glasses, a goatee, studying science with nanotechnology and frequently ending up in violent situations in a under the control of an oppressive fascist regime I cannot see myself in the shoes of the character, maybe it is the fact that he has a name that EVERYONE reminds you of (seriously you can't go 5 seconds without someone saying "Gordon Freeman!" usually with a *helpful* reminder to reload your crowbar), or perhaps the whole GMan story running through the game reminds me that there is an obvious disconnect here from the real world, and I wonder: why go into all that effort of building a world, a universe, tons of dialogue, and creating a complete non character? It is obvious that valve are brilliant at creating characters, Barney, Alyx, Breen and Eli are testament to that, so why does the single most important thing in the game: "who you are" get no sort of attention? and why do they go into the work of putting together lots of dialogue that you can't get engaged with, despite everyone in the entire game's complete reverence of you and the fact that you are very clearly supposed to be this person?
Also, another slight issue, that is moreover a trope of shooters in general is the fact that your character doesn't actually interact with the game world in any way, you pick up items and they hover in front of you, obviously to display the physics of the game (which I think is a fantastic feature and I absolutely love the way that physics can be used to manipulate so many things), but it really breaks the immersion once again when you see no actual interaction with the item in question.
A game that did that interaction REALLY well?
Alone in the dark
And that was a godawful game, like, terrible, but I felt more involved with the fiction and the character of Carnby than any moment in the half life series just because you actively engage with, and interact with the world around you, rather than simply being an otherworldly form that appears in the game world, shoots people and moves on, capable only of doing just that, going to a place, killing things, going to other places and shooting more things.
If I wanted to play a game where you play a faceless, voiceless male that goes around shooting people I would jump on to an online game, but even they have managed to work in character development, at least in the case of reach, where six is tailored down to the last detail on the single and multiplayer, so that your character is the best possible representation of who you are, and, despite having very little dialogue, still comes off as believable and interesting in universe, and that character development carries over into multiplayer, brilliant really.
If this comes off on me hating on half life, believe me I am not, I really enjoyed the game, the game world is fantastic and exhibits what valve do best, storytelling without ever actually saying a word, and that, I love them for, I am only really accentuating and picking at an issue that has bugged me about this otherwise brilliant game for ages.
I think the only part in the game where I felt any connection to the character at all was when you step onto the HEV suit and it is suddenly on you (because that is how things work apparently) and then he lifts his hands and looks at the gloves, that was the one moment when I thought, hey I aren't just a hovering camera with a gun.
I know valve wanted to create the game to be as immersive as possible but, despite having glasses, a goatee, studying science with nanotechnology and frequently ending up in violent situations in a under the control of an oppressive fascist regime I cannot see myself in the shoes of the character, maybe it is the fact that he has a name that EVERYONE reminds you of (seriously you can't go 5 seconds without someone saying "Gordon Freeman!" usually with a *helpful* reminder to reload your crowbar), or perhaps the whole GMan story running through the game reminds me that there is an obvious disconnect here from the real world, and I wonder: why go into all that effort of building a world, a universe, tons of dialogue, and creating a complete non character? It is obvious that valve are brilliant at creating characters, Barney, Alyx, Breen and Eli are testament to that, so why does the single most important thing in the game: "who you are" get no sort of attention? and why do they go into the work of putting together lots of dialogue that you can't get engaged with, despite everyone in the entire game's complete reverence of you and the fact that you are very clearly supposed to be this person?
Also, another slight issue, that is moreover a trope of shooters in general is the fact that your character doesn't actually interact with the game world in any way, you pick up items and they hover in front of you, obviously to display the physics of the game (which I think is a fantastic feature and I absolutely love the way that physics can be used to manipulate so many things), but it really breaks the immersion once again when you see no actual interaction with the item in question.
A game that did that interaction REALLY well?
Alone in the dark
And that was a godawful game, like, terrible, but I felt more involved with the fiction and the character of Carnby than any moment in the half life series just because you actively engage with, and interact with the world around you, rather than simply being an otherworldly form that appears in the game world, shoots people and moves on, capable only of doing just that, going to a place, killing things, going to other places and shooting more things.
If I wanted to play a game where you play a faceless, voiceless male that goes around shooting people I would jump on to an online game, but even they have managed to work in character development, at least in the case of reach, where six is tailored down to the last detail on the single and multiplayer, so that your character is the best possible representation of who you are, and, despite having very little dialogue, still comes off as believable and interesting in universe, and that character development carries over into multiplayer, brilliant really.
If this comes off on me hating on half life, believe me I am not, I really enjoyed the game, the game world is fantastic and exhibits what valve do best, storytelling without ever actually saying a word, and that, I love them for, I am only really accentuating and picking at an issue that has bugged me about this otherwise brilliant game for ages.
