Half-Life 2: Episode One Released!

[JNightshade]

Originally Posted by Vegetable897
Except... It needs something more. Something to emphasize the fact that they are all stringed together... I don't know what, though.

Hmm... maaaybe. For me, the idea that you can sit down and play through the entire series, and watch the plot unfold in front of you, is good enough... idk, I'll think about it some more.

 

[Apos]

Poo, you're just silly. Instead of spending time adding l33t new ultra mega gun take #12345, they put what they had to really excellent use. The strength of Valve is that they take some basic elements and then combine them in new and creative ways that deliver constantly inventive and different gameplay and situations. I'd way rather have what we got in Ep1 than have then be like every other FPS but have one or two "special new weapons" that usually suck anyway. Instead of a triple barreled shotgun, we get all sorts of neat twists and updates of the original concept.

It's not what you have, it's how you use it.

 

[Sainku]

I'll just wait till all the episodes are out, hopefully they will do a pack with all of them in it or something.

 

[Robinhood_01]

Short, but very, very sweet.

I was very impressed by the story, pacing and gameplay. The whole narrative felt tight and gripping.
I felt a little sick when I saw what apparently happens in Ep 2. ;(

 

[Mountain Man]

First impression:

Remember how much better Half-Life 2 was compared to Half-Life? Well, Episode 1 is that much better than Half-Life 2!

 

[JNightshade]

But this time, rather than physics and graphics, it was story, NPC interaction and whatnot

btw, I didn't really think they were ACTUALLY miniaturized Striders. I was just using the term that UltimaApoc coined to describe them. They do look like mechanized houndeyes... that would be awesome

Just one thing: as excellent as all the graphical aspects are, there's one effect in particular that really blows my mind. That awesome specular lighting effect they use on the edge of characters is absolutely GORGEOUS. I'm thinking in particular of the first level.

 

[ironclad]

You'll have a hard time convincing me otherwise, i can see it...

Their gallop was looked sort of like a gorrilla's sprint. Houndeye gorrillas i guess then.

 

[jet jaguar]

I'll just wait till all the episodes are out, hopefully they will do a pack with all of them in it or something.

Same here. More power to Valve if they can make a killing with this episodic content but I'm not a fan of it.

 

[99.vikram]

I'll be one of the people who buys the episodes as they come. Valve truly deserves it!! :thumbs:

 

[sam_justice]

Wow, those last 2 comments were pretty much downers, eh boys?...

You zip through it the first day it is out and all you do is whine/complain...

sigh...

I have been at work since 7:45 this morning and don't get of till 5... then I won't even get home until after 6...

At least you guys got to play it! :upstare:

But anyways, I cannot wait to get home to play it! Any chance I can get to play more of something in the HL universe is a chance I will take anyday!!

You guys have a great day!

Well.. I didn't mean it was awful. The story is brilliant don't get me wrong, the gameplay I found gets extremely repititive towards the end, even though it's an FPS so most of it is expected to be shootouts, I was hoping for more scripted scenes like at the beginning. The end was pretty cool effects wise.

 

[sam_justice]

OH OH PS!
Did I notice,
Dare I Say,
CGI :O
at the trailer for episode 2

 

[CrazyJeepDriver]

Good God
From what I have played of it (first chapter) this is a really refined game
And good looking

MMMmmmmm..... HDR.....

 

[Apocalypse89]

On average, how long does this episode take? Valve said that it would be 5-6 hours, but most people are reporting between 2.5 and 4 hours. It'd be pretty stupid if they falsely advertised it.

 

[Cargo Cult]

On average, how long does this episode take? Valve said that it would be 5-6 hours, but most people are reporting between 2.5 and 4 hours. It'd be pretty stupid if they falsely advertised it.

Hey, look everybody, I can go into a wonderful restaurant, order a delicious, sumptuously produced meal, and stuff it into my face in five minutes flat!

Everyone's utterly obsessed about how long it takes to play. Take your time over it, don't rush. Expect about six hours that way - and you'll get to see and do far more than you would if you just rush straight through...

 

[99.vikram]

Hey, look everybody, I can go into a wonderful restaurant, order a delicious, sumptuously produced meal, and stuff it into my face in five minutes flat!

Everyone's utterly obsessed about how long it takes to play. Take your time over it, don't rush. Expect about six hours that way - and you'll get to see and do far more than you would if you just rush straight through...

Eggjacktly

Average Joe can finish this in 4.5 - 5.5 hours.
As for me, I'm playing a chapter a day.

 

[Steven]

I can't afford it. D:

 

[TheHamster22]

Woooooooooooow, for £10 that was awesome! Far more fulfilling then ordering a domino's pizza or some 2 hour movie at the cinema

Although it was abit of a surprise I must say that it did only take 4.5 hours, and I'm sure I didnt rush; though I did play it on normal, so I can now play it again on hard Was excellent imo, bring on Ep. 2!

 

[Garfield_]

Damn, I wish I had some cash to buy it but I spent all my money on a new soundcard :I

 

[Mess]

This didn't really do anything new, or develop the storyline as much as I feel it should. It was perfectly enjoyable but I feel we were sold a little short.

 

[Smigit]

Ok only part way into it but heres my take

Fun, its pretty exciting and has a few decent puzzles. The graphicsd are starting to look dated except the HDR which is absolutly terrific. Ive soon the odd terrible texture so far. that said it doesnt look to bad.

The bad, and this really is bad. It took me about 6 reboots to get the game working. I couldnt get past about 2 mins into it before it locked up and one time at the very start alyx stood still instead of jumping up to the ledge to talk on the PC so I got stuck there 2 (being my 1st play I had no idea what was wrong). Games SHOULDNT crash this often and its not my hardware, its an issue with the source engine since Lost coast was released (although for some reas CSS is immune).

That said once it began working it was fine. I almost lost my patience with it but.

Whats interesting is this was $35 AU and next to it Sin:E was $50. big price difference there. Ill grab sin later on I think (not a price issue I just have exams I need to do). Still at $50 thats very close to a full scale game which goes for about $80 here. Interesting. Ill buy it but its not the bargain I was made out that it would be. I could buy ion steam but I do want the box so meh, my loss, rituals win.

 

[Ohcanep]

So... I played through it last night. Took me some 4 and a half hours with minor pauses on medium. If you want to rush it under 3 hours, you've got to skip some dialogs and other really nice stuff. Of course, Gordon got eliminated few times and I did a little sightseeing but there's more than blasting your enemies down .

I was, though, waiting for it to be little longer and new tools to dispatch those who'd get in the way. Also those flares should've lit wider area :hmph:.

None the less it's a brilliant episode and after finishing it on medium, replaying on hard with commentary on sounds fun.

 

[TrippyG]

omg havent had time to play it yet
damn work!!! and today is friday so I'm gonna be sh*tfaced tonight
but tomorrow I will enjoy this 1337 valve release

 

[Apocalypse89]

Cargo cult, I certainly am not rushing my way through when I get it later this month. I just got a bit suspicious about the way things were going, that's all.

 

[kaMIKazE]

Whats interesting is this was $35 AU...

Huh? $20 US is ~$27 AU. I got the pre-order 10% discount so it was only ~$24.

You got ripped off.


Oh and your pc sucks.

 

[xrikazen]

I agree that this game is very well done. It seems like they could refine a lot of the little things that were looked over in HL2.
Oh, and fighting zombies with Alyx is so much more fun than doing it alone. I do wish she would have more comments about events as they happen, instead of just saying 'good shot' all the time. But I suppose that would probably get annoying at some point.

Oh, and episode one hasnt crashed once for me. Much better than the first experience with hl2.

 

[Robinhood_01]

After playing through Ep. 1, I've started going back through with the comentary on and it is even more awesome. Listening to the how and why the game was done the way it was is a really, really good feature, I've learnt stuff about game design I had no idea about.

Also looking back at HL2, it now feels very empty without Alyx by my side, she added a lot to the experience and although she's just a game character I started to feel rather attached to her by the end. Rather interesting, and very well done on Valve's part.

Extra: Ep 1. only crashed once, and that was because I forgot to take the side off my PC (AMD heat issues)

 

[Cormeh]

Heh, I was absolutely cheesing when I got the crowbar. Zombie killing rampages with the crowbar are fantastic.

However, Zombines are a different story.....

 

[Hectic Glenn]

The bad, and this really is bad. It took me about 6 reboots to get the game working. I couldnt get past about 2 mins into it before it locked up and one time at the very start alyx stood still instead of jumping up to the ledge to talk on the PC so I got stuck there 2 (being my 1st play I had no idea what was wrong). Games SHOULDNT crash this often and its not my hardware, its an issue with the source engine since Lost coast was released (although for some reas CSS is immune).

You keep believing that but a huge majority of people including myself played this game and all other source games flawlessly. My hardware is dated and my hard drive cluttered and not defragged in some time, you explain that to me...well what it is, your hardware must be the problem! The game runs beautifully and flawlessly.

Cormeh, didn't you hate the zombines, but when you saw one you were kind of happy to fight it, pretty fun enemies. Almost like the suicide bomber of the undead.

 

[Mountain Man]

On average, how long does this episode take? Valve said that it would be 5-6 hours, but most people are reporting between 2.5 and 4 hours.

It depends on whether or not you're one of those folks who is obssessed with "beating" a new game as quickly as possible. I played about four hours last night and only reached about the half-way point. This is a game worth taking the time to savor, and it will demand at least two play-throughs to take it all in (and a third time just for the commentary!).

 

[Mountain Man]

...replaying on hard with commentary on sounds fun.

Except that difficulty level is irrelevant with the commentary mode seeing as it gives you automatic invulnerability. I guess Valve didn't want people worried about getting killed while listening to the developer comments, which makes sense.

 

[Cormeh]

Cormeh, didn't you hate the zombines, but when you saw one you were kind of happy to fight it, pretty fun enemies. Almost like the suicide bomber of the undead.

I didn't exactly hate the suckers, but them being unpredictable can make things interesting. What's even better is when they pull a grenade in a crowd and you shotty their arm.

Zombie rain.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

That reminds me of the moment i opened a door with several zombines inside, they ran at me with grenade in hand. *hits E with megaton force shutting door*, and the rest included gibs all over the walls. Hated enemies, but i don't mean in that way, i loved to hate them, it gave you something totally new to be scared of.

 

[Cormeh]

I love their hunchback sprinting, along with the muffled electric/zombie voice. In the darkened tunnels that noise is chilling, especially when you turn the flashlight on them when they're three freakin' feet away, bounding at you.

 

[Smigit]

Huh? $20 US is ~$27 AU. I got the pre-order 10% discount so it was only ~$24.

You got ripped off.


Oh and your pc sucks.

Of course you pay extra for a retail copy.

and I'd be interested to hear how you reached the conclusion my pc sucks, especially given the issue has been reported before not only in relation to this release but also the lost coast. If I can play fear maxed then I would have to conclude that no, its not my pc. Infact Source engine games are the ONLY ones where this happens. Go figure.

You keep believing that but a huge majo rity of people including myself played this game and all other source games flawlessly. My hardware is dated and my hard drive cluttered and not defragged in some time, you explain that to me...well what it is, your hardware must be the problem! The game runs beautifully and flawlessly.

again back it up with something other than "it works for most people". So what? doesnt mean there isnt issues. My system coped fine up until the HDR was added in and when the game actually runs its faultless so its not an under powered issue. Its not a heat issue, I can monitor that (and have). I can play oblivion with most settings on high, Fear maxed out. Its this game and this game only. So you keep telling yourself theres no problem and ignore the fact theres people with beefy PCS on steam powered reporting the issue. If theres a hardware compatability issue then its VALVES problem/fault, not mine. I dont expect them to test a game on every pc setup, but it doesnt mean my hardwares to blame.

BTW I never got the HL2 stuttering problem. Doesnt mean there wasnt a problem there (since valvue released source updates aimed at directly addressing it).

And no im not saying the game is a buggy piece of *&^3, just that there is some sort of issue which occured. It may not be prolific but its there. Your use of the word "majority" is enough to show that while yes, it works fine for most that yes, there are issues. The problem may not even pop up again, I got a good solid hr in before exiting after the 6 crashes but like I said the problems there.

Also that scripted thing at the start where alyx jumps up onto the ledge has NOTHING to do with my hardware, again if a scripted scene doesnt work its not a problem on my end.

I still like the game but, dont get me wrong. Nor do I hold any grudges, Vavlve usually post fixes to things fairly quick and hopefully the problem wont pop up again anyway. I certainly have no intention in making a "steam sucks" or "valve sucks" post as I dont feel that way. I was just disapointed that it took me so long to actually get the game running when I had been wanting it for the past 2 years. Besides that its been great.

 

[Ghroth]

well after i finaly got it working i must say that it was awsome

played it on hard for about 3 hours straight from start to finish

so whoever said that it was 6 hours must be talkin to retards

alex and the puzzles were fantastic

the preview at the end for episode 2 was cool

i give it a 9 out of 10, that one point going for an unstable release, and all around short game play

the whole episodic content thing is a hoax imo, its just a way of selling their games

if there was a episode each week, or each month, heck every two months then it would be worth it, but 6 months to a year to get that out to the public is well short of what a episode should stand for

look at LOST, they put out over 20 some odd episodes each season and its production is greater in scale imo

ah well, now to wait till 2007 to get another 3 to 6 hours of game play for 40$

and it will probably not work first try, unless i upgrade to the 1337 gear and then it might not even work, too bad i dont have mommy and daddy paying my way through life so i can spend $ on computers

 

[99.vikram]

For God's sake, Smigit, I got it to work on my older DirectX6 machine !!!

It's your issue, not Source's. Try updating drivers, or uninstalling any memory-hog software.

 

[JNightshade]

Yeah...

Originally Posted by Smigit
again back it up with something other than "it works for most people". So what? doesnt mean there isnt issues.

Actually, it does. To get a game of this calibre to run flawlessly on the FAR majority of PCs is quite a feat. The fact is, if you can get a game to run great on 99 out of 100 PCs, you've done a bang-up job. It sucks that you're the odd man out, but you have to understand that (at least as I see it) you're the exception to the rule.

Anyway, email Valve!

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Pity it doesn't run on mine. It's horribly afflicted with the infamous stutter bug (that I don't get in HL2 or Lost Coast). Very, very annoying.

 

[99.vikram]

Pity it doesn't run on mine. It's horribly afflicted with the infamous stutter bug (that I don't get in HL2 or Lost Coast). Very, very annoying.

I get less stutter in Ep1 than in either of those.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I didn't get any stutter at all previously. None whatsoever.