Half-Life 2: Episode 1 | xltronic messageboard
 
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Half-Life 2: Episode 1
 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-12 15:34 [#01878185]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator



oh my, she's a-coming.. 1st of june!

interesting - the story overview calles the G-man "a
sinister interdimensional bureaucrat"
, pretty much
confirming what people have been speculating on this here
net.


Attached picture

 

offline oscillik from the fires of orc on 2006-04-12 15:35 [#01878187]
Points: 7746 Status: Regular



i want to get this, and i'm glad that it will be available
from otlet stores - fucked if i'm gonna download this via
steam

it's bad enough as it is


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-12 15:38 [#01878189]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator



I have never had problems with Steam concerning HL2 - I had
plenty of problems when the thing was first implemented, but
it worked like a dream for me round HL2.

I had preloaded everything and on the morning (well, it was
morning here) of the release it took Steam about 10 minutes
to unlock the game and I could play to my hearts content.


 

offline oscillik from the fires of orc on 2006-04-12 15:40 [#01878193]
Points: 7746 Status: Regular | Followup to qrter: #01878189



i bought the silver biscuit box version of Half-Life 2, and
even though i bought the game maybe only a month after
release (probably not even that) i had to wait forever for
the updates to install.

and then whenever i used my mates connection to update it,
it would take forever too. but then again my mate is with
tiscali and they're shit.


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-12 15:45 [#01878198]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to oscillik: #01878193



well, lots of people had problems - I guess I was just
lucky.

you'd hope they'd be better prepared this time round,
though..


 

offline oscillik from the fires of orc on 2006-04-12 15:47 [#01878202]
Points: 7746 Status: Regular | Followup to qrter: #01878198



i would have hoped so too, but i guess it's a very popular
game

qute rightly too

anyways i should really stop spending money on computer
games and concentrate on other things!

even though i'm gonna buy it anyway


 

offline goDel from ɐpʎǝx (Seychelles) on 2006-04-12 16:18 [#01878236]
Points: 10225 Status: Lurker



see, it's a good thing imacs can dual boot nowadays. i
finally have a reason to check my old steam account again.
i've heard the episodes gonna be shorter (and
standalonish)... and plenty!


 

offline mylittlesister from ...wherever (United Kingdom) on 2006-04-12 16:44 [#01878275]
Points: 8472 Status: Regular



well it can't be much shorter than Lost Coast.

oscillik, you can get round update problems by using Steam
in it's 'Offline Mode'.


 

offline oscillik from the fires of orc on 2006-04-12 16:48 [#01878280]
Points: 7746 Status: Regular | Followup to mylittlesister: #01878275



yeah i do that most times anyways because of my limited
connectivity, but when there's major updates (or when i
reinstalled Windows and forgotten to backup my entire Steam
installation) i have to update. took me the equivalent of
about 4 days to download the updates for all my games :(


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-12 19:03 [#01878378]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



Can't wait to get this, it just better be worth the goddamn
money, GODDAMNIT! If I feel anywhere near as ripped
off buying this as I did paying $24.95 for DOD:source, this
will be the last Valve product I buy until HL3.


 

offline mylittlesister from ...wherever (United Kingdom) on 2006-04-12 19:53 [#01878391]
Points: 8472 Status: Regular



when will we be able to start preloading episode 1?


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2006-04-13 00:27 [#01878488]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker



That looks awesome. I have a feeling each episode is going
to be like a half life two level. Longer than lost coast,
but only part of a game. I am split on this, because 1, it
means that there will be shorter waits between half-lifes,
but 2, its going to cost you money for every episode, and
will end up costing about $150 or so to collect every
episode.


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2006-04-13 00:29 [#01878489]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker



THat trailer looks fucking awesome!!!


 

offline giginger from Milky Beans (United Kingdom) on 2006-04-13 00:49 [#01878491]
Points: 26326 Status: Lurker | Show recordbag



Can't fucking wait.


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-13 12:44 [#01878835]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to mylittlesister: #01878391



I would guess the beginning of may - as soon as they start
taking preorders, which probably is a month in advance.


 

offline X-tomatic from ze war room on 2006-04-13 15:33 [#01878961]
Points: 2901 Status: Lurker



Saw the trailer, looked like more of the same minus the
novelty factor. The stalker bit raised some excitement
though. All in all not too impressed by said trailer. I do
like the idea of doing episodes and did already preorder sin
episodes:emergence (of which the original was one of the
most overlooked games ever), so if the cash is there, I'll
probably get HL2:episode one as well just out of curiousity.
Hope it's not gonna be as addictive as a quality TV series
though, cause if so it could prove to be very costly affair
indeed.


 

offline Clic on 2006-04-13 16:54 [#01878997]
Points: 5232 Status: Regular



I can't wait.


 

offline QRDL from Poland on 2006-04-13 21:16 [#01879074]
Points: 2838 Status: Lurker | Followup to X-tomatic: #01878961



I've always wanted to play Sin. It looked extremely cool,
but as far as remember it came out in the same time as some
other big hit (HL1?).


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-13 21:16 [#01879075]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



I think it's almost accepted that it's not going to be very
long in total play-time. Doesn't that piss anyone else off?

I personally would be more than happy to say that HL2 is a
technological achievement without much real replay value (im
talking about the single player campaign here) and just
leave it at that until they release HL3 (which we all know
will happen eventually). I have a feeling we're going to pay
20 dollars for just over an hour of gameplay. Granted, it
may be longer than that, so we'll just have to wait and see.
I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, it's just that I've
been VERY skeptical of Valve ever since they dropped the
ball so horribly with the release of HL2 (couldnt even play
it until the day after I bought it). Not to mention the fact
that they spent 6 years making a game that a serious
FPS-player (such as myself) can easily finish in 2 days.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-13 21:21 [#01879078]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879075 | Show recordbag



"I think it's almost accepted that it's not going to be very

long in total play-time. Doesn't that piss anyone else
off?"

I just feel that after the problems I experienced trying to
get HL2 to unlock on their stupid over-trafficked steam
server, and the game's very short initial gameplay time,
Valve should almost release this first episode for FREE as a
gesture of good will to all the customers who put up with a
bunch of shit to play their game, without complaining a
SINGLE time to them about it.

oh and btw, the folks at valve should relearn their ordinal
numbers, seeing as Half-Life:2 WAS episode 1.


 

offline Taxidermist from Black Grass on 2006-04-14 00:12 [#01879108]
Points: 9958 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879078



Dude. I was never an avid fan of valve, but halflife two was
mind blowing for me. And I didn't feel it was too short.


 

offline QRDL from Poland on 2006-04-14 05:38 [#01879227]
Points: 2838 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879075



2 days is not too short by today standards. I finished CoD2
in 7 hours (I stilll think it was really good). Granted,
games where once a little bit longer, but thats the way it's
going to be. More visually gratifying games with detailed
surroundings and a highly developed AI take hell of a time
to write and I'm afraid games will cease being profitable
for the developers in not so long. Also, I think HL2 is a
great, varied experience and I can't imagine being
disappointed with it.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-14 10:42 [#01879416]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to QRDL: #01879227 | Show recordbag



how much variation was there to HL2, really? The driving
scenes were extremely repetative, and the gravity gun was
way too good. I didn't need any of the guns throughout the
entire game because of the gravity gun. and then you get to
the very end and instead of giving you some really cool
combine weapons, you get an upgraded form of the gravity gun
that can now just pick up and throw people around like loose
change. Where is the challenge in that? I'm not saying thats
all there was to HL2, and I'm not trying to persuade anyone
to dislike HL2, I just don't see how anyone could NOT be at
least a little dissapointed with the conlcusion (or lack
thereof) to the story of HL2.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-14 10:48 [#01879420]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to QRDL: #01879227 | Show recordbag



2 days is not too short by todays standards, because no one
has stood up to developers and said "if you don't put a
little more meat on the bones, I'm going to have to eat
somewhere else." If two days is not too short, then explain
how Bethesda, in less time than it took Valve, has created a
MORE advanced engine with exponentially longer and more
varied gameplay (Oblivion). Clearly there is more to it than
"our game is next-gen, we couldn't make it that long." Do
you really feel that Valve hadn't planned this "Episodes"
thing out from the start?


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-14 11:11 [#01879438]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879078



"without complaining a SINGLE time to them about it"

so you decided you didn't want to complain and they should
be really happy about this..? that was your choice, you
could've complained.

you've said that before about the game being too short - I
never felt that at all. I tend to take a lot of time while
playing a game. I walk around, really look at stuff, listen
to the sounds in there - I don't race through it trying to
finish it as fast as possible (which I think is a very
common tendency amongst people who play games these days).

I want to experience a gameworld, not just a fast-paced
action game. when you look at it that way, the game isn't
short at all. and what's more - it has plenty of replay
value. I must've played HL2 about 4 times by now.

so maybe the game is too short for the way you play games,
but for quite a lot of people it's perfect in length.


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-14 11:15 [#01879443]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879420



that's one (1) example of a game being very long - it is an
exception.

that said - I recently finished the main quest in Oblivion
and by comparison, I thought it was pretty short and even
worse - pretty simple.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2006-04-14 11:21 [#01879459]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to qrter: #01879443 | Show recordbag



you still get to play around with the rest of the world
after finishing the main quest, right?

do new quests arise?


 

offline qrter from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-14 11:25 [#01879464]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to Drunken Mastah: #01879459



the world goes on, you just become a big star.

new quests as in: ones that follow because of the happenings
in the main quest? not as far as I can see.


 

offline Drunken Mastah from OPPERKLASSESVIN!!! (Norway) on 2006-04-14 11:37 [#01879476]
Points: 35867 Status: Lurker | Followup to qrter: #01879464 | Show recordbag



ok. I seem to remember there being a few quests in morrowind
where people sought you out because you were the nerevarine,
but that may just have been something they mentioned when
they started talking to you, as everyone were saying "oh,
you're the nerevarine, aren't you?"


 

offline QRDL from Poland on 2006-04-14 11:39 [#01879478]
Points: 2838 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01879420



Qrter si right, Oblivion is an exception on the other side,
but it could benefit from some more time spent on ironing
out the bugs.

1) The game crashes quite frequently.
2) When another application forces Oblivion to minimize and
gets the keyboard focus, you can't move when you get back in
the game.
3) The longer you play, the slower the game runs (not so
noticable on 1GB of memory), this is a classic case of not
freeing allocated memory. Same thing was happening with GTA
III until they issued a patch. The difference is the guys
from Bethesda claim these are Windows allocation problems.
C'mon, that's bullshit.

Of course, I would be stupid to call Oblivion a bad game,
but this is deffinitely not top-notch programming. On the
other hand, I have never heard of a problem with HL2 and I
belive Valve that they spend the last year optimizing the
code.

As for the weapon power levelling, I didn't have a problem
with that, I switched frequently. However, I can agree that
in the last part, the gravity gun was too strong.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2006-04-14 13:14 [#01879539]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to qrter: #01879438 | Show recordbag



"that was your choice, you could've complained."

You say it as though complaining would have accomplished a
single thing. The reason for the problem was simply that
they did not have enough bandwidth to accomodate all the
people trying to use steam. They already knew that, so every
customer that calls up just to tell them that they don't
have enough bandwidth is a waste of both parties' time.

Oblivion may be more simple than Morrowind, but there wasnt
a single time in HL2 where I felt challenged in that
respect, either. And I don't just go running through the
game helter-skelter trying to finish it as fast as possible.
I've been playing LOTS of FPS games since Doom, and I tend
to get a feel for a particular engine's "environment" quite
fast. As a result, just standing around staring at wall
textures doesn't quite do it for me anymore. Half-Life 2 was
an awesome game, and no one can take that away from it. I
just don't like the way Valve has handled the DoD thing or
the story progression for Halflife 2.


 


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