Are modern games becoming less replayable ?

[Mr Bean]

Eleas I think the point he was making was that until games like Deus Ex where released in 2000, Half Life had a good solid two years of being the best damn thing out there game play wise, and they had expansion packs one year later with a ton more content, and there was all the endless half life mods released.

In 1998 Half-Life was where it was at, in 2000 it had been passed by. But in 1998 and 1999, can you name a better FPS?

[Stark]

I suspect I'm in a clear minority here, but I never found Half-Life 1 compelling, for much the same reason as have been mentioned earlier in this thread. Scratch a bit on the surface, and it was evident the "randomness" wasn't - it was all scripting tricks. In an example I mentioned earlier, imagine if it were possible to save one of these hanging scientists before he plummets to his doom... oops, the instant you come within five meters of him, he falls! What a coincidence!

I pretty much hate HL2 for all these reasons (especially after all the Valve-fellating ZOMG PHYSICZ and that games are STILL described as having 'HL2-style physics puzzles' when I don't even remember ONE non-scripted physics thing bar a seesaw). HL1 pretty much set the style for a decade of FPS, though, and it's WAY mroe graceful at what it does than the competition at the time, even as it's nowhere near as good as Valve wanted us to think.

Rememebr when the box suggested cutscenes woudl play out in realtime and you could interfere to change outcomes? I remember shit like that. Turns out... Valve are liars?

But hey, I hate Deus Ex with a fucking passion for these reasons, but HL gets a pass out of simplicity and age. Even if it DOES have SMGs that only fire every second bullet.

[CaptHawkeye]

I hear nostalgia is an automatic "Get out of objectivity free" card for plenty of old fanboys.

[Eleas]

I pretty much hate HL2 for all these reasons (especially after all the Valve-fellating ZOMG PHYSICZ and that games are STILL described as having 'HL2-style physics puzzles' when I don't even remember ONE non-scripted physics thing bar a seesaw). HL1 pretty much set the style for a decade of FPS, though, and it's WAY mroe graceful at what it does than the competition at the time, even as it's nowhere near as good as Valve wanted us to think.

Eleas I think the point he was making was that until games like Deus Ex where released in 2000, Half Life had a good solid two years of being the best damn thing out there game play wise, and they had expansion packs one year later with a ton more content, and there was all the endless half life mods released

You both make good points. In my defense, all I can say is that at the time Half-Life caught my attention, I was just beginning to salivate at the thought of playing Unreal. I played that game a few levels, long enough to whet my appetite but not long enough that the lack of story began to become evident. All I remember is that I thought the graphics of Half-Life were a letdown, but hell, I'd give it a shot. But the story was completely unimpressive from the get-go, as were the graphics, and the promised character interaction was absent. In retrospect, I realize I must have played Unreal on a far better rig than HL, and/or taken drugs, but at the time, Half-Life just failed to impress.

In 1998 Half-Life was where it was at, in 2000 it had been passed by. But in 1998 and 1999, can you name a better FPS?

Easily. AvP if we're talking pure FPS. If we're expanding the concept of FPS to cover all that the acronym might imply, Thief (obvious answer if you know me) is a shoo-in.

But hey, I hate Deus Ex with a fucking passion for these reasons, but HL gets a pass out of simplicity and age. Even if it DOES have SMGs that only fire every second bullet.

Yeah, I guess it's a lot about expectations. I expected nothing from Deus Ex, and had heard nothing about its boasts, so I was captivated.

[Stark]

Man nobody played AvP except me. And it doesn't work under Vista anymore, Nvidia broke some driver thingo.

I'd heard all about how Deus Ex is SUPER FLEXIBLE and DRAMATIC STORY and edgy tactical winpants. It was certainly pretentious, but it had 8-bit boss fights, so blehs. It's absolutely much easier to deal with anything without expectations.