While I am not a an FPS fan, I do love Half-life for its story
I read through most of the post - the lore from your account does seem far more interesting than I would of thought. I guess back then having a compelling story and campaign was pretty much a necessity.
I did find this video on youtube in my short follow up exploration...~.~
Yes, alot of the lore isn't readily apparent. I'm still curious what GMan is and what he wansts in the end. Too bad there probably won't be a HL3 too soon, if ever.
I think there are games today with good stories as well, just that it's harder to find between all the generic or awful ones.
I'm not much of a FPS fan myself, but the HL series is something else. It's not too cheesy, it's not too serious, the level layout is phenomenal, that even after years I can still tell you where to go to and what to do to advance.