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[Cthulhu]

Was it really a great game though?  Personally I barely remember it.  It felt like a rail shooter.  Same with the first one, people described it like it was this revolutionary thing but it felt like just more Quake stuff.  You run forward, shoot a dude, run forward, shoot some more dudes, do a puzzle, shoot dudes.

The thing from HL2 that stands out the most to me was when Barney made a joke about praising you for doing something easy, which was funny because the rest of the series continued to do exactly that, getting more and more ridiculous as it went on.  Walk forward, shoot a dude, Alyx tells you good job, walk forward, shoot more dudes, Alyx flips her fucking lid at your skills, do a puzzle, Alyx approves, shoot dudes, great job Gordon.

Oh, that and Deus Ex Machina.  Like, Episode 2 has no less than two separate sequences where Advisors grab you and Alyx and they're about to kill you when somebody or other rescues you. 

[Darkmere]

A whole lot of stuff both games did at the time was pretty revolutionary. Until that point DOOM was the go-to model of levels being extremely gamey and nonsensical in design. Half-life actually went to great pains to make the level design feel somewhat like an actual facility and had enemies more advanced than "walk at you and shoot."

It doesn't come off as well if you've played everything inspired by that philosophy first, but I still remember when the DOOM/Quake style was the only option, and it would have seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time.

[Gatleos]

The thing from HL2 that stands out the most to me was when Barney made a joke about praising you for doing something easy, which was funny because the rest of the series continued to do exactly that, getting more and more ridiculous as it went on.  Walk forward, shoot a dude, Alyx tells you good job, walk forward, shoot more dudes, Alyx flips her fucking lid at your skills, do a puzzle, Alyx approves, shoot dudes, great job Gordon.

Nobody is with you for the majority of HL2, while the episodes revolve around traveling with companions. It would have seemed strange for nobody to react to anything Gordon did, but then they painted themselves into a corner by going the opposite direction. It just highlights the absurdity of Gordon's hypercompetence when everyone starts commenting on it.

The problem with Half-Life's story isn't the little things, it's how clearly unplanned the overall story was. Laidlaw pulled most of the retcons and filled-in details in HL2 straight out of his ass, because he had to. Why doesn't anyone express surprise that Gordon looks exactly the same as he did decades ago? Or Barney, for that matter. Guy must be at least in his late 40s, but he looks nothing like it.

The series tries so hard to be realistic, but it makes the gamey elements of the story all the more glaring.

[Scripten]

Nobody is with you for the majority of HL2, while the episodes revolve around traveling with companions. It would have seemed strange for nobody to react to anything Gordon did, but then they painted themselves into a corner by going the opposite direction. It just highlights the absurdity of Gordon's hypercompetence when everyone starts commenting on it.

This is a problem with pretty much any non-tactical non-arcade FPS. The player character is always going to be incredibly out of place, though I argue that HL2 does a better job than most at conveying Gordon as an exceptional persona. He's not the only one who's this competent, either. Most of the supporting cast are relatively smart and capable. It's just that Gordon has the HEV Suit training. (Granted, that's a major contrivance, but at this point we're splitting hairs.)

The problem with Half-Life's story isn't the little things, it's how clearly unplanned the overall story was. Laidlaw pulled most of the retcons and filled-in details in HL2 straight out of his ass, because he had to. Why doesn't anyone express surprise that Gordon looks exactly the same as he did decades ago? Or Barney, for that matter. Guy must be at least in his late 40s, but he looks nothing like it.

To be fair, they do comment on it. Some people just don't age noticeably during that time of their lives. How many years was it since Black Mesa? Wasn't it only about 10-14 years or so? Barney was probably about 25 during that time, so at most he's 40, which seems about right. You're not wrong about the retcons, but I don't really see how these amount to really big plot holes?

[Gatleos]

To be fair, they do comment on it. Some people just don't age noticeably during that time of their lives. How many years was it since Black Mesa? Wasn't it only about 10-14 years or so? Barney was probably about 25 during that time, so at most he's 40, which seems about right. You're not wrong about the retcons, but I don't really see how these amount to really big plot holes?

Yeah, they do mention it. According to the wiki, Alyx is supposed to be in her mid-twenties and was only a few years old at the time of the first game. You also never see anyone younger than about her age due to the suppression field thingy, so we can assume it's been at least 2 decades.

So not really plot holes, just strange behavior from characters. It also serves to highlight the fact that Gordon never talks, since you'd expect his first reaction to be "Guys I was in a time warp for like 20 years that's why I look the same". Though it could be Link-style muteness, where he's just implied to be talking to people.

[Scripten]

So not really plot holes, just strange behavior from characters. It also serves to highlight the fact that Gordon never talks, since you'd expect his first reaction to be "Guys I was in a time warp for like 20 years that's why I look the same". Though it could be Link-style muteness, where he's just implied to be talking to people.

I always liked to think that he was gesturing or nodding or whatnot, or just about to speak before SHENANIGANS happen. (Due to the way the game interacts with you, I often find myself doing things such as nodding just out of immersion, but that might be me trying too hard.)