MY HL2 experience, too! [Archive] - VideoGameReview Forums

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databug

01-04-2005, 12:30 PM

Rainy day. Found it on sale, $39.99. Cashier was hot stuff, it was all I could do to keep from farting in front of her, I couldnt contain myself - was it buying HL2 that had me sexually turned on? Or the hot cashier with the big bazookas? Both.

I'm now installing it. Complaints now:

PC cd-rom version has and doesnt have:

HAS 5 discs
DOESNT HAVE a plastic jewel case like doom 3
HAS stupid cheap white cd disc sleeves
DOESNT HAVE an instruction book (not that a HL fan needs one!)
HAS picture of the girl, the bad guy, or gordon on the game box, i couldnt find gordon, just the bad guy
HAS long install time
HAS long update time
DOESNT HAVE me playing the game yet, im updating STEAM right now, ugh!

But I'm relaxed.. im calm. I wish I found the game box with Gordon on the front, but as I said above, all I saw was the cute chick and that ugly bad guy - yes i forget the bad guy's name, it's been years since i played HL. Shoulda saved more to get the collector's edition, it comes with HALF LIFE 1 and it's remastered and looks way better than the original HL, so the game sites say... still found no screen shots of it.

This game I got is plain jane cd-rom version, and i was TOLD online that it DOESNT come with counterstrike: source - but mine did. Wonder if any bots will come out for it? Im tired of playing games online and dont intend to for a while longer. I like solo play and have for the last year or so.

Well, im going to go let crappy steam update and then the game, then play oh.. in 4 hours, haha. By the way, i hear people online saying suddenly their cd keys dont work and they cant play online OR solo now? They say they seemed to have been.. banned, for doing nothing? Hmm, maybe a steam mistake or something - im hoping this will go fluidly for me and MY game doesnt stop "working" in 2 weeks like a few poor souls online have encountered (maybe they're just liars and pirated it and didnt give that detail haha).

First impressions to come after a handful of hours playing HL2. Im off...

Aku

01-04-2005, 02:42 PM

Cashier was hot stuff, it was all I could do to keep from farting in front of her

Lucky for her. :p

HL2 doesn't come with a printed manual? I find that hard to believe. I always want something to read after I get a new game, even if most of the information is useless. :rolleyes:

E.T.

01-05-2005, 08:27 AM

Hopefullly your HL2 experience will be smooth from begining to end, & Steam will not screw up your account.......

[I too bought full retail version & it came with NO printed manual.]

Aku

01-05-2005, 09:11 AM

Hieremias

01-05-2005, 09:59 AM

That's just pathetic. Are they really helping their bottom line that much to save a few pennies in printing? If there's no manual, then why waste the cardboard on a box? Why not just stick the CDs in a ziplock bag like they used to do in the old days? They could save even more money. And think of all the shelf space retailers would save. Computer games continue to be the most poorly marketed and retailed of all consumer products, bar none. Pathetic.
They wanted to give more incentive to people to purchase the game off Steam. No manual = even less reason to make the trip to the store. Given the lawsuit problems I'm sure Valve would never have been allowed to sell Half-Life 2 online for cheaper than the stores, but I'm hoping that could be the case later on.

And this could be a good thing. In an ideal future games (and all other electronic entertainment, likes movies and music) would be delivered electronically to the consumer without any cartel in the middle, for half the current price. No giant publishers, no RIAA, no MPAA, no Electronic Arts dictating their terms to small developers. These bodies would by definition become useless, as they were originally intended only as content distributors (but have since become vastly more powerful).

Since developers (or musicians or movie producers) only get a fraction of the retail price anyway, if they figure out that they can deliver the content to the consumer basically for free, without any need to pay a bloated corporate pig like EA or UbiSoft who would dictate to them how the game should be developed, I think we might see cheap games being sold online through Steam-like delivery systems (which is basically just BitTorrent). That runny-nosed nerd behind the counter at EB might be out of a job, but oh well, times change.

It won't be instantaneous. As long as there are a large number of customers without high-speed internet access (dinosaurs), or who have no idea how to download online content (technophobes), there will be games in stores. But you can't seriously expect that situation to remain the same forever. When the people described above become such a minority that it's more cost effective for developers to skip the publisher routine altogether, even at the expense of a handful of potential customers, you'll suddenly find Best Buy shelves awfully empty.

Apple has announced a "Media Centre Computer" designed for living room use, which many suspect will be like a big iPod where you can download movies and music. (Of course, I've been using a "media centre PC" for years now, but that's beside the point.) Half-Life 2 has sold by the tens of thousands online without any money whatsoever going to Vivendi Universal.

The old days are numbered. The days of having massive media cartels dictating terms to much smaller artists or developers, and acting as a bloated middleman by jacking up the price, so that you pay $20 for CDs, $30 for DVDs, and $50 games, are not going to last forever. Technology will <i>force</i> the industry to change. People who b!tch about Steam are missing the fundamental truth that these are simply the birthing pains of what potentially could be a much, much better future for the entertainment industries.

E.T.

01-05-2005, 02:09 PM

Renzatic Gear

01-05-2005, 03:01 PM

I don't necessarily have a problem with Steam itself. It's clunky as hell and a bit obtrusive..it's a good idea, just badly implemented.

In my opinion Steam would be best used as a delivery, verification and update platform, with the MP and SP features contained within the game itself. You wouldn't be forced to go through Steam to launch the game, you'd just click an .exe file like you would any normal storebought title. It should be an OPTION to use Steam to launch all your games, not a necessity.

Valve isn't following the KISS system here, the more hoops I have to jump through just to play a game the less I wanna play it.

E.T.

01-05-2005, 07:39 PM

In my opinion Steam would be best used as a delivery, verification and update platform, with the MP and SP features contained within the game itself. You wouldn't be forced to go through Steam to launch the game, you'd just click an .exe file like you would any normal storebought title. It should be an OPTION to use Steam to launch all your games, not a necessity.
Excellent point that the SP portion should be self contained on disc.

Valve isn't following the KISS system here, the more hoops I have to jump through just to play a game the less I wanna play it
Life is short enough, pop in a disc & hit "play"......

databug

01-05-2005, 09:06 PM

Hmm. I dont think steam is the wave of the future - i dont want to buy online and i refuse to, ever. I want to go IN a store, it's the element of the hunt ya know. what if you could "order" a girlfriend off the net and she shows up at your door instantly?! ok, males.. dont answer that haha. but u see what im saying? would take away from the human touch, of chasing the girl, interacting, socializing, romanticizing, etc. same for games - pffff haha i will never buy jack crap online, ever. hell, i have the random virus getting into my machine now days, backdoor trojans and stupid crap - and i go to like 2 commercial sites, this site and a game site! its ridiculous - i'd hate to buy something online some day, have a keylogger trojan in my machine... oops! there goes my name, password, credit card number, etc. I've seen this happen to personal friends to horrible degrees, just horrible, and i'd rather buy in a store.

as for "dinosaurs" - not everyone wants the latest technology, not everyone needs it, and it shouldnt be forced. i could care less to stream games off the net with a super duper fast T1 line, who cares. i'll download a demo, and if i like it, go buy it in a store. saying people who arent computer savvy or online at super high speeds are "dinosaurs" would be like ME saying, if YOU dont have a super-collider buried underground in your backyard, then you are a dinosaur as well. older people dont care about the internet as much, and the world, especially america, lives in a snotty, snobby "gimme it right now" fast paced moronic society - everyone wants instant gratification - in seconds. i dont. i dont need the fastest net connection, or the latest cell fone, or .... make my "blog" on the internet like 50 million others have. i do what i want at my speed ;) technology eventually becomes a burden, not a convenience - example? the atom bomb.

anyhow, as for HL2 not having an instruction book - valve just wanted to milk the living hell out of the HL franchise is all, and the scrimped by not printing a manual, AND no jewel case for the game discs. PLUS they are trying to charge 54 bucks in most stores for the game... it's greed. the game is more fun than doom3, but doom 3 looks better.. hands down. and doom3 came with a cool big thick jewel case AND a game book! be the game book useless, it hardly told crap lol, at least it came with one! AND, and... a velcro-snap on the front of the doom3 box! how cool is that? valve just cut corners, and their "stuttering sound" patch seems to not help in the least, by the way.

so far... the game's story seems butchered, really does. city 17 in the game is in russia? uh... in half life 1, i was under the impression the game took place in.. arizona it looked like. red colored canyons in the background outside in part one... no oceans... a small lake maybe in the distance in part 1. but part 2 is in russia? uh ok, i see no russian signs on the streets in the game, no russian language is spoken.... and one part of the game (where u first see the outside in part 1 and the background graphic of the red canyons) u get to play thru again slightly. i thought hmm, this is from part 1! but wtf? it's now in russia? last time i did my geography, russia doesnt look like the grand canyon LOL.

the story is butchered like i said...an italian lookin white chick, with a black father (adopted maybe?) and barney the security guard is now younger looking?? i dont see why in the game we try to save that scientist dude, uhh whats his name.. the black guy... eli? eli or ely, something like that. i mean if we're trying to stop... the invasion and takeover completely of the earth, why are we trying to save someone who is expendable AND has a crowbar for a left leg?! the story makes no sense, it doesnt look like russia, and to me the game isnt taking place in russia.

game begins u, with that kooky guy from the first game in the blue suit.. he's babbling nonsense, and u warp into the subway train. i thought gordon joined that guy? why was gordon sent to an orwellian type prison camp?? doesnt the blue suit guy know, if gordon gets loose, he'll mess shizit up?! story is completely inane to me, makes no real sense, no large boss creatures that i've seen so far.

game levels are larger than part one, but... the game takes less time to get thru it seems, although the levels are larger...? i guess speeding really fast on a hover craft thingy, then a dune buggy, lets u skip thru a LOT of level and map space that coulda been used as complex levels for gordon to traverse on foot.

so far i dont like the story, the levels are huge but there isnt much to do in some levels, and good lord... the ant lion area? was that tacked ON to make the game last an extra 4 hours?! i mean the ant lion crap just dragged on and on! the first of the game began great, i thought whoa im gonna be in the middle of hell the entire way thru the game. buzz, wrong.. going into beat up looking "bacherlor pad" apartment complexes, with graphics to the walls and old furniture and stuff actually resembling the graphics from MAX PAYNE 2, just didnt appeal to me. seriously, most of the wall textures in the game look like crap from max payne 2! which isnt bad really. but i kept thinking geez... some of these levels look too much like max payne 2...........

otherwise, about mm 10 hours, maybe 12 here later game time total, and i have i think 2 or 3 chapters left to go. game plays smooth cept for some long loading times, and the sound jerking when a level loads up, and the patch apparently didnt help this issue. its just like with half life 1, ugh.

game plays fine, looks good, cept the floors and walls look muddy up close (even old unreal tournament, the first one, had GREAT wall textures! u could walk up to a wall in THAT game and see tiny minute DETAILED cracks in the walls, it was pretty amazing stuff and still looks good today, whereas HL2 has muddy looking floor and wall textures, like part 1 - sure these textures look realistic as hell from a distance but up close? nah... muddy. and valve adding an ambient "all over glossy shine" to almost every wall and floor texture, was too much, and didnt look realistic... how the hell do OLD WOODEN FLOORS with dirt and dust and crap on them, SHINE like new???)

other than cruddy story line, max payne 2 looking walls and floors, and teammates that get in your way and cause you to die... hl2 is good. its not as hot as all the HYPE had it goin ya know, but i like it - i cant wait to play some mdos! but wtf? steam wants u to BUY some of the mods? uh, mods are... free... right........?

doom3 vs HL2 = close call. doom has the graphics and might last slightly longer than HL2, but HL2 has the good gameplay and fast paced fun action.

hey rez-whatever gear... does this COUNTER STRIKE SOURCE crap that came with my game support bots, like built in? i'd like to go a round or so of CS:SOURCE alone on my own pc if the game comes with bots and stuff... just to see how the new terrorist/anti-terrosits skins and guns look.

final rating for HL2: 8.5 (out of a score of 1-10) and it got an 8.5 for the muddy wall textures, shoddy story and THEY RECYCLED THE DAMNED MUSIC FROM PART 1?!?! good lord, valve! u idiots drive FERARRIS now! SPLURGE next time, ok? geez...make a NEW music track and a damned instruction book next time!

Hieremias

01-06-2005, 06:28 AM

Geez databug, you sure can write a novel.

Hmm. I dont think steam is the wave of the future - i dont want to buy online and i refuse to, ever. ... as for "dinosaurs" - not everyone wants the latest technology, not everyone needs it, and it shouldnt be forced. i could care less to stream games off the net with a super duper fast T1 line, who cares. i'll download a demo, and if i like it, go buy it in a store. saying people who arent computer savvy or online at super high speeds are "dinosaurs" would be like ME saying, if YOU dont have a super-collider buried underground in your backyard, then you are a dinosaur as well. My aunt and uncle refuse to buy a DVD player. All of their movies are in VHS, and they are angry that they have to change formats "so soon" (after, what, 15 years of VCRs?). Interesting that their anachronistic attitude hasn't stopped DVDs from becoming the primary recorded medium for video. In fact many manufacturers have stopped making VCRs altogether, and many large stores (like FutureShop and Dixon's) have stopped carrying them altogether.

There will always be a few, like yourself, that refuse to or are slow to advance with technology. But when people like yourself become too few to be economically significant, your "I insist on going into a store!" mentality won't mean a whole lot. Not if the game developers can save millions of dollars by skipping the whole publisher routine while just losing a handful of customers that, let's face it, probably wouldn't buy their game anyway given the resistance to technology. ("My Pentium 2 was fine when I was in school, and darnit, it'll be fine now!!")

older people dont care about the internet as much, and the world, especially america, lives in a snotty, snobby "gimme it right now" fast paced moronic society - everyone wants instant gratification - in seconds. i dont. i dont need the fastest net connection, or the latest cell fone, or .... make my "blog" on the internet like 50 million others have. i do what i want at my speed ;) technology eventually becomes a burden, not a convenience - example? the atom bomb. Older people also don't tend to play videogames or buy large amounts of CDs or DVDs. Make no mistake, the target audience for entertainment companies are young people, and in the case of PC games, technologically savvy young males.

And I don't want instant gratification. I want an entertainment industry that isn't ruled with an iron fist by publishing cartels that destroy innovation and jack up the prices. Unless you actually think EA is a good thing??

Comparing online media distribution to the atom bomb? Geez, you should work for the RIAA.

As for Half-Life 2, I think you have a major case of "I don't get it". It's an eastern European-looking city (it never says Russia, it doesn't give any location at all), and that, believe it or not, was intentional. They wanted that environment, and it works wonders. Given that the game takes place, what, decades? after the first, I see absolutely no reason why they should go back to New Mexico (not Arizona).

But, given your "I refuse to do anything new!!" mentality towards technology, I'm not surprised you have little imagination when it comes to a plot like Half-Life 2's, which intentionally leaves a lot of gaps for the player to fill in.

moya

01-06-2005, 07:14 AM

I like the game. It doesn't do much new (gravity gun excepted), but it's certainly a well constructed and polished linear thrill ride. I have to say though, I think the mute Gordon design decision hurt the game this time around. For instance, when I'm in Eli's lab near the beginning I want to ask questions, not just stand there and silently 'look around'. Why am I here? How long has it been since Black Mesa? I know you can gather some of that stuff from looking at newspaper clippings and 'filling in the gaps', but in reality I'd probably want to ask some of those questions directly. It's a nitpick I suppose, but it does kill the immersion slightly.

silversparrow

01-06-2005, 06:54 PM

so far... the game's story seems butchered, really does. city 17 in the game is in russia? uh... in half life 1, i was under the impression the game took place in.. arizona it looked like. red colored canyons in the background outside in part one... no oceans... a small lake maybe in the distance in part 1. but part 2 is in russia? uh ok, i see no russian signs on the streets in the game, no russian language is spoken.... and one part of the game (where u first see the outside in part 1 and the background graphic of the red canyons) u get to play thru again slightly. i thought hmm, this is from part 1! but wtf? it's now in russia? last time i did my geography, russia doesnt look like the grand canyon LOL.

the story is butchered like i said...an italian lookin white chick, with a black father (adopted maybe?) and barney the security guard is now younger looking?? i dont see why in the game we try to save that scientist dude, uhh whats his name.. the black guy... eli? eli or ely, something like that. i mean if we're trying to stop... the invasion and takeover completely of the earth, why are we trying to save someone who is expendable AND has a crowbar for a left leg?! the story makes no sense, it doesnt look like russia, and to me the game isnt taking place in russia.

game begins u, with that kooky guy from the first game in the blue suit.. he's babbling nonsense, and u warp into the subway train. i thought gordon joined that guy? why was gordon sent to an orwellian type prison camp?? doesnt the blue suit guy know, if gordon gets loose, he'll mess shizit up?! story is completely inane to me, makes no real sense, no large boss creatures that i've seen so far.

I was disappointed that HL2 doesn't give you any answers as to who Freeman is, who the G-Man is, or what really went wrong at Black Mesa, but I think you're nitpicking on some of the other details. I think it was prudent of Valve not to go overboard with specifics in regards to the location. After all, in HL2's future, Russia may no longer exist and City 17 may just be an anachronism. I also liked the change of scenery, from bright orange New Mexico to greyish Eastern Europe. However I do think it's a mistake on Valve's part in releasing a sequel that leaves us as clueless as the last game did. We should be getting more and more answers within each passing sequel. We'll have to hope for the best 5 years from now. :(

Suicides-by-Steve

01-07-2005, 04:14 AM

"Given that the game takes place, what, decades? after the first"

Sorry to nit-pick, but I don't think decades... The scientists you helped out in Black Mesa, were old then, yet they still look relatively hale now... 10 years I would say, tops. There is references to the couple scientists running into Freeman, personally from the first game... as well as Barney looking pretty much the same.

Now that I think of it, I wouldn't even pinpoint the area as Russia... Most of the signs and characters are written/speaking English. As well, if I remember correctly, if you look at the maps during the driving level, the water is to the east of the map (assuming the top of the map is north)... Freighters for most part traverse oceanic passages (which are littered throughout), not small lakes... so this points to an east coast, not a west... of course this is just speculation... there are such things as fjords and bays...

moya

01-07-2005, 07:12 AM

Oh joy! Today I just started getting fairly severe clicking and stuttering issues in Half-Life 2. Before this I'd had very minor pauses mainly on loading new levels and autosaving, but certainly nothing game-destroying.

I loaded the game up today in the Sandtraps level and it was all over the place--clicking and popping and jerking around. The only thing I changed since I was playing it yesterday was to defrag my hard drive. I did update my graphics card drivers (to 66.77), but I tested the game for half an hour after doing so (on the Sandtraps level) and noticed no difference (there may have been a minor decrease in performance, but nothing really noticeable). I've now played through that level (hoping against hope that it may have been level-specific) and on to Nova Prospekt, but it hasn't got any better. Time to consult some of those tweak guides methinks...

Aku

01-07-2005, 08:36 AM

I was disappointed that HL2 doesn't give you any answers as to who Freeman is, who the G-Man is, or what really went wrong at Black Mesa

The HL story reminds a lot of old TV shows like Twin Peaks and X-Files. Basically, you get the feeling that they're making the story up as they go along.

Hieremias

01-07-2005, 09:09 AM

That black scientist looks older in HL2 than in the original, and now he has a daughter. *shrug* Anyway, the game obviously leaves the player in the dark intentionally. You're never sure about where City 17 is (good investigative work re: east coast though), you're never sure about where the Combine came from or how the disaster spread outside of Black Mesa.

I do like the G-Man's line at the beginning: "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world." That pretty much describes the Half-Life universe in a nutshell.

Renzatic Gear

01-07-2005, 01:49 PM

Actually it does tell you (vaguely) where the Combine come from, you just have to look at the newspapers mentioning the Three Hour War before you talk to Eli at Black Mesa East for the first time.

Basically the resonance cascade wasn't contained to Black Mesa. It was the first, but it eventually led to a chain reaction that caused the exact same thing to happen all over the world. During this time most of humanity fled to the realitive safety of the cities to protect themselves...and that's when the Combine showed up. They helped contain all the creatures from Xen, but then decided to turn on us, but because of our weakened state of society and their advanced technology we surrendered only 3 hours after the attack began.

Eli also mentions in passing that Alyx was only 4 or 5 during the Black Mesa incident. So a good 15 years have passed since the beginning of HL1, it explains why everyone is so surprised to see him and why he "hasn't aged a bit".

Most of the story is there to find out, it just tells it with such subtlity that it's really easy to miss.

Aku

01-07-2005, 02:29 PM

Suicides-by-Steve

01-07-2005, 04:17 PM

I just played it the other day, I don't remember him stating Alyxs' age directly. I'll keep my ears open the next time I play it through on Medium difficulty though.

Renzatic Gear

01-07-2005, 04:50 PM

It doesn't ever say how old Alyx is, but I'd guess she's about 20 or so.

I dunno if it's the difficulty that reveals these plot points, Steve. I think you have to do certain things certain ways to trigger some of these conversations. It makes it kinda hard to figure out exactly what to do to hear it all.

Suicides-by-Steve

01-08-2005, 01:56 AM

moya

01-08-2005, 02:15 PM

moya

01-08-2005, 02:18 PM

Did Steam download an update since the last time you played HL2, perchance?

Ha! Good suggestion. But no, because I'd not been online (on my home computer) since registering HL2 last weekend. Literally the only thing that I'd done was defrag the hard drive. I've found a pretty detailed guide though and will work through that at some point.

Renzatic Gear

01-08-2005, 02:48 PM

In Nova Prospekt, Dr. Breen addresses the Combine over the internal PA and says something to the effect of 'I'm trying to convince our benefactors that you (Combine presumably) are the best humanity has to offer'. What I take from this is that Breen has maybe created the Combine in an effort to pacify the alien invaders for some reason. I presume that 'Combine' are part-human, part-something else (possibly alien). They are Breen's tool for gaining power on Earth. That's how I read it anyway...
I always assumed he was addressing the human (or half-human) troops that have been incorporated into the Combine. They make up the lower echelon of the whole Combine, the top being those pillbug looking things you see Breen talking to towards the end.

Breen isn't really the one in power, I think he's just the human puppet the Combine use to talk to the masses.

moya

01-08-2005, 02:55 PM

Okay, so I haven't played till the end yet. So I shouldn't really be talking about this... Oh sh-

Renzatic Gear

01-08-2005, 02:57 PM

Doh! Your fault! Don't blame me. :P