Am I the only one a little let down by HL2?

[Zaphod_Saves]

Don't get me wrong. It is a good game, but it just doesn't live up to all the hype for me. I bought the game like three weeks ago and still haven't completed it. It just doesn't hold my interest the way I had hoped.

It felt like their ambitions were high, but ended up settling for less in order to finally release the game.

Flamesuit on,
Zaphod

 

[ray_MAN]

Personally, it was the best gaming experience I have ever had since KotOR. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I don't understand why anyone would get offended at anyone with a different opinion on how it turned out.

 

[Parabolart]

Valve got lazy and just hurried to finish the game.. they cut out way too much.. I could've waited a year more if they got everything to work. But instead they just cut stuff out and gave the castrated version out for sale.

 

[Zaphod_Saves]

I think it was just all the hype and high expectations.

 

[EpicZeRo]

I love it (and think it's perfect), your opinion is respected though. A friend of mine didn't like it either, he just couldn't get into it.

 

[justmatt]

Nothing ever lives up to hype. The reason there is so much hype surrounding aticipated releases like this is that there are soooo many people out here on teh intarnat who freak out and wanna see every possible screenshot and know every detail they can. Problem is, the finished product is usually never the same as the hyped up product the person was waiting for. And so they end up "disappointed". I personally tried my hardest to ignore all the hype around this game because it was clear from the first screen-shot I saw that it was going to be great.

 

[kupocake]

Judging from the ammount of threads i've seen where people ponder "Am I the only one a little let down by HL2" (or words to that effect), I'd say no, you're not.

I personally was stunned and enthralled in ways I wasn't expecting: I was suprised at this because I'd been following all the hype and still I didn't get disappointed.

 

[Asknoone]

Well i am quite content with it, its fantastic if you ask me. However looking at raising the bar, i really like the originaly style of the game and some of the plot twists and locations there were

 

[RaptornasB]

The HL2 I got is a very different experiance than the one I expected. Valve went on and on about the AI and to be honest its absouloutly Bolocks. The grunts in Halo were more intelligent and if you play the Far cry HL2's AI is a joke.

But what we got was a totally different animal I expected a box of tools and a flat bed pannel with instructions in dutch but I got a marble michael angelo statue. It is just an absorbing gaming experience If I want totally adapting enemies I will play CS:S good job valve.

 

[kenyo]

Don't get me wrong. It is a good game, but it just doesn't live up to all the hype for me. I bought the game like three weeks ago and still haven't completed it. It just doesn't hold my interest the way I had hoped.

It felt like their ambitions were high, but ended up settling for less in order to finally release the game.

Flamesuit on,
Zaphod

you got a flamesuit? cool!
i disagrre i played the demo and...
it was actualy better then i was exspecting!
(the first game i ever plaid that was better then i was exspecting it to be, and i was exspecting it to be the best)
the hype didnt affect me, i got super hyped! and i still get hyped thinkin on how i'm getting it on th 25th! (i've only plaid the demo so far)

 

[Zeus]

The grunts in Halo were more intelligent and if you play the Far cry HL2's AI is a joke.

Far cry's is ok, Halo's was not (running around in circles while I was trying to get around them in my jeep, then I ended up running them over anyway). BTW I constructed a map in hammer (just a box, no AI hints) with some barrels and enemies and it was amazing how they took cover and reloaded behind the barrels instead of standing there like idiots like Halo's AI.

 

[kupocake]

The HL2 I got is a very different experiance than the one I expected. Valve went on and on about the AI and to be honest its absouloutly Bolocks. The grunts in Halo were more intelligent and if you play the Far cry HL2's AI is a joke.

The AI does exactly what they said it would do though. The problem is that it was hyped up in that respect and everyone was expecting something revolutionary. The other problem is that the enemies in HL2 are far too easy to kill, so you never get to see some of the more complex AI routines. You can enact similar scenes to those in the E32K3 traptown video if you feel so inclined, yet why bother when you can just pop a magnum in a soldier's head and move on? I can't say i'm disappointed in the AI - it's fantastic, especially on the tougher enemies, but difficulty was an area we were all disappointed with: I suspect especially you were, as someone who enjoys CS and probably has pinpoint deathly accuracy far beyond what Valve's idea of the "average player".

 

[LittleB]

Am I the only one a little let down by HL2?

Yep .

 

[morient]

I would say the AI was more subtle, doing things most people wouldn't normally notice. The AI seems to have more of an effect if you are playing slowly and cautiously, developing stratagies and such.

About the difficulty of combat.. meh, it was a little on the easy side, but I can attribute many years CS to it's difficulty for me. Simple case by case basis, how much fps experience one has.. how good are they at hitting those all important headshots

 

[subtlesnake]

HL2 could have been maybe 5X times better until it hit perfection. But this is the real world we live in.

 

[RaptornasB]

The AI does exactly what they said it would do though. The problem is that it was hyped up in that respect and everyone was expecting something revolutionary. The other problem is that the enemies in HL2 are far too easy to kill, so you never get to see some of the more complex AI routines. You can enact similar scenes to those in the E32K3 traptown video if you feel so inclined, yet why bother when you can just pop a magnum in a soldier's head and move on? I can't say i'm disappointed in the AI - it's fantastic, especially on the tougher enemies, but difficulty was an area we were all disappointed with: I suspect especially you were, as someone who enjoys CS and probably has pinpoint deathly accuracy far beyond what Valve's idea of the "average player".

I remember reading an interview with Gabe newell were he was always going on about how brilliant the AI was and how they were going to only have striders in a dried up sea bed ut they tried running it in City-17 and the AI was ducking under bridges not falling over and this that and the other. The real AI on the striders is almost non existent and nearly all scripted. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed the game imensely Deffinatly my game of the year but its very different to what I expected the story is brilliant (compared to halo's 'space opera' were are the fat ladies huh huh!).

And if you thought Halo's AI was crap try completing it on legendary even on the PC its hard as nails admitadly the human grunts AI is wank and the convenant grunts AI is terrible (Its ment to be) but It generally is briliant.

 

[kupocake]

I would say the AI was more subtle, doing things most people wouldn't normally notice.

Exactly. Just like Zeus' example above with the cover. I felt it also worked around a few other FPS dumbass problems: I don't think I saw a combine soldier grenade itself for instance, something I frequently see elsewhere. There were a few instances where opposing AIs got hit by enemy grenades too easily, but I suspect that's in there to make sure that Grenades aren't totally useless. Another thing I don't believe i've seen in many FPS games is the fact that Soldiers will shoot down through floors if they can: there's no finding an enemy blindspot where you can just plug away and kill the enemy without ever taking any fire.

let's see... other moments. I thought it was kind of interesting how enemies that were being sniped wouldn't bother returning fire: they'd seek cover or retreat into buildings. Sure, they looked a little dumb when you sneaked up on them and offloaded two barrels into them later on, but at least they didn't just stand there getting sniped like so many other AI characters do.

Zombies using phys-objects as projectiles was also a nice touch, and beat the old "lumbering piss-easy to kill zombie" trick down (that we've all seen far too many times). Antlion pathing also deserves a mention: as does any of the AI that went into getting enemies to follow you, even over areas that would usually require jumping.

Conslusion: HL2's AI is brilliant but really, really hard to notice.

And if you thought Halo's AI was crap try completing it on legendary even on the PC its hard as nails admitadly the human grunts AI is wank and the convenant grunts AI is terrible (Its ment to be) but It generally is briliant.

The AI isn't so much better in Halo. This boils down again to difficulty and I think people occasionally get it mixed up: When enemies are made tougher and you take more damage, it means nothing to the actual abilities of the AI that the enemies use, other than the fact that the enemy in question takes longer to die, so it gets longer to show off its fancy AI routines. Halo does have great AI, partly why I ended up greatly disliking it once the flood arrived and fancy AI took a back-seat to another irritating cliche.

 

[subtlesnake]

Apparently the Striders have decent A.I, it's just that the game doesn't use it (people have set up levels and allowed striders to navigate on their own).

Anyway, legendary A.I has no new behaviours, it just does some things a little more frequently, like throw grenades.

 

[vsaravia]

Not me. Although I think that Half-Life 1 was a better play...wait, no, that's a lie, because there was no boat or jeep in HL1, but anyway... I've passed HL2 and still go back and play all over again to find out about missed or hidden areas, or just to have fun and shoot things endlessly. :E

 

[kupocake]

Although I think that Half-Life 1 was a better play...wait, no, that's a lie, because there was no boat or jeep in HL1, but anyway...

Just a note on HL1 and AI (and nothing to do with this poster, I'm not even sure why I pressed "quote" ^^), but I personally fell victim to blurry eyed nostalgia when thinking about how good the grunts in HL1 were at kicking your arse... until I replayed it the other day and delighted in their "self-grenading stand-in-one-place and can't-return-fire-if-player-is-at-certain-angle" antics. HL1 AI was good for its time, but isn't a match for HL2's AI, or pretty much anything that has been released in the past 3-4 years.

 

[RaptornasB]

Just a note on HL1 and AI (and nothing to do with this poster, I'm not even sure why I pressed "quote" ^^), but I personally fell victim to blurry eyed nostalgia when thinking about how good the grunts in HL1 were at kicking your arse... until I replayed it the other day and delighted in their "self-grenading stand-in-one-place and can't-return-fire-if-player-is-at-certain-angle" antics. HL1 AI was good for its time, but isn't a match for HL2's AI, or pretty much anything that has been released in the past 3-4 years.

Did you know that the grunt AI couldn't run and shoot at the same time so they made one shoot and one get into a new position leading to many entertaining moments.

 

[HalfLife2Addict]

Valve got lazy and just hurried to finish the game...

Oh, do shut up.

 

[Mediocrity]

All I'm waiting for now is a mod which enhances the reaction times and damage done by the Combine; I can understand why the antlions kill them instantly, but personally I would have preferred the troops to slaughter the bugs at will, needing the player to make the difference, as opposed to firing occasionally and only killing the things at point-blank. These are the finest humanity has to offer, after all!

 

[RoguePsi]

I've played the demo and can understand why people have reservations. I am a little tired of it already but then as soon as I stop playing it, I start feeling urges to go back and play. To me, that's the sign of a great game. It's got me hooked.

A friend downloaded the game on it's release date and we played through the intro together. It blew me away then and that was after I was so hyped up about and knew everything there was to know about the game.

I think people do get carried away. It's only a game and essentially it won't change you life!! As far as gaming experiences go, it's one of the best one's out there. In comparison to other next-gen games, it's gameplay shit's all over Doom 3 and Halo 2 in my opinion. Looking back to the original, the difference is beyond massive. I can't even play CS without cringing now.

 

[Fishlore]

Don't get me wrong. It is a good game, but it just doesn't live up to all the hype for me. I bought the game like three weeks ago and still haven't completed it. It just doesn't hold my interest the way I had hoped.

It felt like their ambitions were high, but ended up settling for less in order to finally release the game.

Flamesuit on,
Zaphod

I completely agree with you. I didn't think it was a good game at all though. I didn't enjoy playing it in the least and I guess that's the important part. It is a very standard FPS except it's shorter, easier, completely linear and boring.

 

[LittleB]

I completely agree with you. I didn't think it was a good game at all though. I didn't enjoy playing it in the least and I guess that's the important part. It is a very standard FPS except it's shorter, easier, completely linear and boring.

HAHA then why are you on this messageboard?

 

[OD-Black_Fire]

Valve got lazy and just hurried to finish the game.. they cut out way too much.. I could've waited a year more if they got everything to work. But instead they just cut stuff out and gave the castrated version out for sale.

TELL ME, WHAT THE **** DID THEY CUT OUT?


(If you give me a 'omfg teh hydra' or anything that deals with the beta, you don't understand)

 

[Revenge]

I must say I was completely blown away when I listened through all the various things the combine can say, and when I heard them saying it in the game itself... The HL2 AI is really aware... They say things about the player's and their own tactics, and they talk in what seems to be quite an extensive code language... My favourite line of theirs is in my sig... I think it's quite golden

But yeah the thing with the HL2 AI is that the enemies are never alive long enough for us to see their AI in action, and we dont pay attention to our own allies when we are in large-scale skirmishes so we never really notice just how all the rebels with Gordon usually survive the scene with Alyx unlocking the checkpoint door. I think I would have liked to have seen the HL2 AI given much more HP, so that we could actually see them in action more often...

 

[Jon256]

in the overview they talk about dried up ocean and icebreaker ship. ive completed the game and unless i missed a major area or have lost my memory i cnat remember either of them. did they get cut like the hydra?

 

[GiaOmerta]

Was the best First Person Single Player Experience I've ever had.
But their is always room for improvement.

 

[kupocake]

But yeah the thing with the HL2 AI is that the enemies are never alive long enough for us to see their AI in action, and we dont pay attention to our own allies when we are in large-scale skirmishes so we never really notice just how all the rebels with Gordon usually survive the scene with Alyx unlocking the checkpoint door.

I was playing through this bit earlier, and you're absolutely correct. Mind you, it does annoy me how the resistance fighters are intelligent enough to survive this lengthy skirmish, but far too stupid to get on the other side of the Combine Door before it closes :/

The same sequence illustrates the abilities of the combine soldiers as well, but all to often I'd meet a soldier and offload two barrels in the head. It's kind of iconic really: in real life, you kill someone and their brains splash out on the floor and that's it, they're dead. You kill a combine in HL2, and their fancy AI programming just vapourises, and you'll never know how clever the really were...