I think that Half-Life has become to focussed on NPCs in the episodes, especially Episode 2. Valve has gone further and further away from the format of the original Half-Life, sure change is good but... Well, they are forcing the player into bottlenecked situations where we are made to listen to NPC banter before continuing. It takes away from the sense that is Half-Life.
Its 2:30AM so I really can't be bothered carrying on for ages like I would
What are your thoughts?