The Half Life 2: Episode 1 topic

CaseyRyback

CaseyRyback

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anyone else excited? I just got some new PC speakers and can't wait to try them out tomorrow while taking out the combine. Hopefully Best Buy gets the game in fairly early so I can nab it and start playing.
 
[quote name='Richlough']The Phantom Menace ?

I think you should edit the title .[/QUOTE]


I didn't really think it would need any clarity since it is a pretty big title, but I guess I can add something.
 
I'm honestly not that excited about this... Half Life 2 was okay... but I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as stuff like FEAR or Far Cry. And there's the fact that I absolutely hate everything about activating via Steam. But yeah, I'm sorta interested to find out how it turns out.
 
I am excited, although I have to admit my excitement level has gone down quite a bit since I finished Half Life 2 over a year ago. I have it pre-ordered from a long time ago, but I am not anxiously anticipating it anymore.
 
Yeah, I was ready and eager to play this back when they had a release date of February, but ever since it was pushed back my anticipation died down. That said, I'll play it since it's already preloaded and purchased, but I doubt I'll get to until Monday.
 
this isn't an expansion pack or aynthing, right? You can play it without owning Half-Life 2? I played and loved HL2, but sold it a few weeks after I beat it.
 
[quote name='daroga']this isn't an expansion pack or aynthing, right? You can play it without owning Half-Life 2? I played and loved HL2, but sold it a few weeks after I beat it.[/quote]

Out of curiosity, if you sell HL2 to someone, how do they play the game? The CD Key has been used and tied to your Steam account.
 
[quote name='Vegan']Out of curiosity, if you sell HL2 to someone, how do they play the game? The CD Key has been used and tied to your Steam account.[/QUOTE]
You give them your Steam account name and password.

A CAG gave it to me a few months ago for free with a trade I was doing with them, and all I needed was their account screnname and password to get it all installed.
 
hey if any ones wants me to share my steam acount with them(the games i have are in my sig) give me and xbl 2 month code or 5 pay Pal

i will send you the acount info first then you send me the goods
 
When I get this in a retail store for $15, I'll bite... I just want to further stick it to Valve and their "Games will be cheaper on Steam because there is no manufactering cost" bullshit.

Pretty funny that I've gotten every game on Steam cheaper at retail.
 
I finished it last night, I found it to be worth 20 dollars. It may have only been 4 hours long, but there was a grin on my face the entire time.

Tonight I replay with commentary.
 
I bit. Got it because I've been kinda wanting to play a PC FPS and it gave me Lost Coast for free, which I wasn't out when I got rid of the original HL2. Darn iTunes like buying making spending SOOOOOOO easy! :p
 
I preordered it on Steam. I spent yesterday playing through it. Some of the best 5 or so hours I have ever played. I loved every second of it. I have some screenshots on my website if anyone wants to look.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD:


http://www.flyingpj.com/ep1/


All at max settings at 1680X1050.
 
[quote name='Flying PJ']
All at max settings at 1680X1050.[/quote]

I want your computer. I had to scale my normal HL2 settings back a bit for this.
 
Why wait? This is here, now. What's the point in waiting except to maybe save 10 bucks on a package deal 2 years from now?
 
well I know some people prefer to get the whole story at once instead of getting stuck with "cliffhanger" stories. I used to not watch the last eps of any star trek series until the next season started, or when I collect comics, I wait for a storyling to be completed before starting it. However in this case I'm more interested in the gameplay than the story and so far I like it. However, the area I'm in is just too bleedin' dark for my tastes. Sure you can say it's atmospheric but I just don't like having to strain to see what's going on.
 
[quote name='Richlough']The Phantom Menace ?

Does this have the same system requirements as HL2 ?
Or is it enhanced like The Lost Coast ?[/QUOTE]

you can turn off the HDR stuff in the options.

This game looks amazing BTW. I got it last night at Target (Best Buy's near me have yet to get it in stock) and started playing some this morning. Really awesome so far and I have not even fired a gun.
 
[quote name='troa11']well I know some people prefer to get the whole story at once instead of getting stuck with "cliffhanger" stories. I used to not watch the last eps of any star trek series until the next season started, or when I collect comics, I wait for a storyling to be completed before starting it. However in this case I'm more interested in the gameplay than the story and so far I like it. However, the area I'm in is just too bleedin' dark for my tastes. Sure you can say it's atmospheric but I just don't like having to strain to see what's going on.[/QUOTE]

true... might as well wait til a trilogy box set comes out..nice to see you dont need the original game to play the add on.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']you can turn off the HDR stuff in the options.
[/quote]

You can, but it's the last thing I'd turn off if the game wasn't running well. The effects are done REALLY well, better than the crappy overused HDR in other games I've seen recently.
 
Finished it about 20 minutes ago... that game was fucking awesome. I didn't mind at all that it was only about 5 hours long, especially at $20... those were some BITCHIN' hours. I can't wait for Episode Two.
 
that was a really great game. Exciting all the way through and definately worth 20 bucks. I think I am going to play it through with the commentary track and then try it on hard. Episode 2 also looks really good. I can see how they decided to break up the games now and like how it is being done.
 
I played on Normal the first time and died quite a few times, but when I played through the second time on Hard for the commentary, it's always amazing how much easier it is. The AI is so great, though, that it's never the same.
 
I enjoyed it too. I have a newer PC than I did when I first played HL2, so I was able to play it in a higher resolution with all the details up and HDR on. It looked so much better than HL2 did when I first played it. I thought the length was pretty much spot-on for a $20 expansion. I got a kick out of the new creature, especially what Alyx called it. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more new creatures though, it would have been cool to have some kind of new "boss" to fight at the end.

I think I'll do like you guys said and have another run-through with the director commentary on and the difficulty on Hard. Hell, I need to play through HL2 again too since it's been so long since I played that. Looking forward to episode 2 now!
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']you can turn off the HDR stuff in the options.

This game looks amazing BTW. I got it last night at Target (Best Buy's near me have yet to get it in stock) and started playing some this morning. Really awesome so far and I have not even fired a gun.[/QUOTE]

Go back this week then and get a price adjust, since the game is $14.99 this week at Target's nationwide.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Go back this week then and get a price adjust, since the game is $14.99 this week at Target's nationwide.[/QUOTE]

Target will give a price adjust? Hopefully I can find my reciept
 
Those are some awesome screenshots, Dancing Monkey Island Monkey. Too bad I can't do HDR :(.

I hope to pick this up in the next week or so, game looks amazing. I thought HL2 was pretty good but not OMFG amazing. Having not played HL1 I think I was confused the whole time. I still have no idea why the aliens are there and even if they are aliens. I really had no idea at what was going on in HL2 and the ending did not reveal anything. I really hope EP1 can explain a bit.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Target will give a price adjust? Hopefully I can find my reciept[/QUOTE]

They will price adjust to their own non clearance prices, yes.

If they don't, for whatever reason, just buy another copy and walk over the customer service desk with your old receipt and return it.
 
:rofl:

concerned157.jpg
 
that is fucking hilarious. Though considering I thought that was the worst part of the game, it makes me feel good that others felt the same way.

also I really hope Valve can fucking get things done on time with Episode 2. Christmas would mean a lot of sales and hopefully they have this figured out.
 
So, I own Episode 1 now, and I've never gotten more then halfway in HL 2... I think it's time to get to it and finish it up.
 
Pretty good game. A bit too short, though, but I can't argue for $12.99!

I was hoping that when Gordy and Alyx left the Citadel and it blew up that they would be able to at least reach Dr. Kleiner and Alyx's dad, but meh. The explosion itself was kickass.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']So, I own Episode 1 now, and I've never gotten more then halfway in HL 2... I think it's time to get to it and finish it up.[/quote]
I would highly advise that you don't start Ep1 without finishing HL2 first. Unless you really like ending-ruination.
 
anyone else think Alyx is the best AI buddy ever? Not annoying and you never have to worry about her.

the commentary track is awesome btw and I love how they really go in depth and discuss some of the changes to the game they made. The changes they made to alyx were great and the playtesters that valve has really did their job in getting rid of annoying things that would have pissed me off.
 
[quote name='Vegan']I would highly advise that you don't start Ep1 without finishing HL2 first. Unless you really like ending-ruination.[/QUOTE]

Oh, I know, I'm just commenting on that I've had HL 2 since the day it came out, and now own Episode 1, and have yet to finish HL 2... it's on my list of things to do though.
 
More worth my time and money than the Sin episode.

Maybe a tad too short, only real complaint is that it was just the citadel and the town areas agian, nothing new, but new enough. I throughly enjoyed it. As long as my 3-5 hours are rich and fulfilling enough for my $20 I'll gladly pay it. I'll buy episode 2.

How many episodes are planned? or will it go on like a TV show and end when public interest wains?

edit: spoiler...maybe
I was under the impression that Alyx was going to be the main and playable character, I thought it was strange and a little lame how they brought gordon back into the mix
 
the episodes are part of a trilogy.

Also I don't believe there were ever any plans to ditch Gordon. Alyx was with you at the citadel when it was destroyed and getting rid of either of them would have been illogical.
 
I just thought that since at the end of HL2 Gordon went into the g-man "sleep realm" like the end of HL, I figured he would be trapped in there like before, as Alyx fought on. But the vortigons came in and pulled him out, which I thought was a little deus ex machina, but thats me
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']anyone else think Alyx is the best AI buddy ever? Not annoying and you never have to worry about her.[/quote]
Absolutely, it's definately one of the best, if not THE best, NPC programming I've ever seen.

She never even gets in your way, the slightest nudge will make her move. Of course, that doesn't happen often.

I liked the commentary node that actually displayed how the NPC pathfinding works.
 
I need to stop reading this thread until I finished the game and I'm trying to draw it out so I am only playing an 1 hour everday or so. So far this game is incredible and the detail is amazing.
 
Wow you guys are all being pretty kind to Valve..

I didn't actually get to play it but I went over and watched my friend play it for about an hour. I went home, got lunch did some errands, swung back by and he was like, "WTF? I beat it already?" He was pretty dismayed, to say the least.

I'm sorry but FIVE hours (for the first run...) of gameplay? A few new enemies? Granted, the game looked nice but not "I waited 1 1/2 years for this" nice. It's still Half Life 2 after all. And again, FIVE hours???

This "expansion" (which I use the term loosely here) as it stands, should have been five, maybe ten dollars if you download it. What happened with Valves promise that they were going to pass the production savings on to us?

It juse doesn't look like a good gaming value to me. And really, you guys think they are going to ship the next five hour tidbit by X-MAS? Yea, we know Valve is pretty good at getting things out on time:roll: . It'll probably show mid 2007.

I'm pretty sad to say, but I'm not interested in the franchise anymore because of the way they are distributing and parceling the game.
 
how many shooters charge full price and are less than 10 hours (Doom 3, FEAR, etc)? 20 dollars for 5 hours of gameplay seems pretty fair to me. Plus the commentary track makes it worth an extra playthrough.

Also it has been known for a while that it was only going to be between 4 and 6 hours, and considering that this is what most single player expansions tend to provide, it seems like a pretty good deal to me.
 
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