HL2 - Missed the Bar...

[Spartan]

No, bringing up Halo 2 is common sense considering Halo 2 is Half-Life 2s biggest rivals. And the fact that hundreds of Halo 2 fanboys have come to these forums. Of course, if you can't put 1 and 1 together I'm suprised you can even manage to use a computer. Simply amazing

They aren't rivals. They are on different platforms. They both have a strong fanbase. And they probably had different target audiences. Fanboys just like to bring Halo into everything because they don't have any real reasons for anything. They're just fanatics.

 

[Dsty2001]

What was cut out of the leak that was so fun that it caused the actual HL2 experience to fall short? I'm asking not to flame you but just out of a sense of curiosity - that's all

I played the leak, if somebody says the leak was funner than the actual game its pretty obvious their trolling. Because I can say right now the leak was buggy, slow, and most of all had alot of crap missing from it.

 

[ThrasherX9]

I'm done. This Valve bashing and half-assed complaining of the game is bogus. Glad we get to deal with the haters now that they seem to have come out of the wood work.

 

[Odysseus]

I played the leak, if somebody says the leak was funner than the actual game its pretty obvious their trolling. Because I can say right now the leak was buggy, slow, and most of all had alot of crap missing from it.

How many MB's was the leak? What was it like? Did you start at the train station and ended when the G-Man stopped time?

 

[Dsty2001]

They aren't rivals. They are on different platforms. They both have a strong fanbase. And they probably had different target audiences. Fanboys just like to bring Halo into everything because they don't have any real reasons for anything. They're just fanatics.

Their not rivals? So I take it just because somebody owns a PC automatically means they don't own a XBox? Quite the opposite is true. And not only that, but just cause their not on the same console doesn't mean a thing. They have alot in common
1: Both most highly anticipated games of the year
2: Both are FPS
3: Both are Sci-Fi

*sigh* Common sense can go a long ways in life

 

[spartan232323]

I loaded it up and was expecting something special - no such luck! Nothing is this game is extraordinardy - kill some grunts, kill some headcrabs, solve really easy puzzles.
Bullz

Well, with your generalizations:

Halo 1 and 2: Kill aliens
Far Cry: Kill grunts and aliens
Doom 1,2,3,: kill demons
Half life 1: kill grunts and aliens

See my point? Next time don't generalize things so much

 

[Dsty2001]

How many MB's was the leak? What was it like? Did you start at the train station and ended when the G-Man stopped time?

The download itself was about 2.5GB, unzipped it was 3 to 4 gigs if I remember correctly. It was buggy, had alot of textures missing from it, and alot of sounds missing from it also. And ALOT of crashes. Yes it started on the train, and I couldn't get the last level in the leak to work so I can't comment on that.

 

[Maynard-]

Everything makes sense in the game if you pay attention to the storyline. From all of the plot hints and such, you come to the conclusion that Ravenholm was like a small industrial town, shops and such, that help support the small community. Of course the combine raided it over and over, and when their attempts at flushing out the rebels failed, they massively shelled the area with headcrabs, eventually encompassing the entire town with a bunch of zombies and such. From what we can also gather ingame, it looks as if they tried to fight back at the zombies, but it ended in a retreat back to Eli's lab (as evident by the locked up doors, piled up obstacles, general abandoned look).

So maybe it didn't fit into your idea of the HL2 storyline, but it all made alot of sense to me (and others).

 

[G-Uni7]

** Edit: Maynard got there first

Ravenholm, if you'd have gathered the bits of the story together, was just like any other town around City-17, where the combine had send in headcrabs to eliminate any humans. Therefore, whenever you enter Ravenholm (everyone knows what happened to it, and therefore no one goes there now) there are loads of zombies.

I disagree that it doesn't raise the bar, as it sets the standards VERY high for newer games coming out. No other game I have played has had better phsyics, graphics, story and funny parts all together in it. I don't know what the hell you were expecting, but the finished product was a great game, and a cliffhanger for Hl3.

 

[Spartan]

Their not rivals? So I take it just because somebody owns a PC automatically means they don't own a XBox?

If someone wants Halo 2, he'll get it. If he likes Half-Life 2, he'll get it too. If HL2 and Halo 2 were rivals, they would exclude each other, like display adapters. Your argument is completely bogus.

 

[vertthrasher]

First off, there were about 30 enemies that were cut. The story was DRASTICALLY changed from something good.... to something wack... There was this one gun that could "weld" objects together so you could make ANYTHING. In the multiplayer, people would weld compressed air to the sides of the buggy, then shoot off the caps so all the air shot out, then use that as a super turbo. Or People would weld their own boats and actually be able to use them. It was insanely fun. Sniper rifle was cut, oicw was cut, there was this one gun that shot out little blobs of explosive that you could shoot like... as many as you wanted basically. then with secondary fire they would all detonate. It was a very fun and a very potentially strategical weapon. A lot more weapons, you could actually use the combine electric bat thing. Too many enemies were cut to even count with a calculator. HDRR really made the graphics shine...... but hdrr was sadly cut. IM me if you want more details.

 

[Spartan]

Ravenholm, if you'd have gathered the bits of the story together, was just like any other town around City-17, where the combine had send in headcrabs to eliminate any humans. Therefore, whenever you enter Ravenholm (everyone knows what happened to it, and therefore no one goes there now) there are loads of zombies.

I think we all understand why Ravenholm is as it is. What we don't understand is why the player is forced to go there.

 

[Odysseus]

The download itself was about 2.5GB, unzipped it was 3 to 4 gigs if I remember correctly. It was buggy, had alot of textures missing from it, and alot of sounds missing from it also. And ALOT of crashes. Yes it started on the train, and I couldn't get the last level in the leak to work so I can't comment on that.

Did it come with the IceBreaker Level? and if so, at what point in the game did it appear?

Also, did it come with the blue tentancle that stabs a combine soldier in the back (as seen in one of the trailers)?

 

[Mac]

I thought half-life1 was better in terms of gameplay.

 

[chimpmunk]

Rushed game anyone?

 

[Chiefi]

It'll probably end when every last fanboy leaves the Internet. In other words, never.

No, it'll stop when people like "NIBully" accept other people's opinions. To his eyes, anyone that does not agree with him, in this case, is a fanboy.

I don't mind if you didn't like Hl2, why should I give a damn? All that matters is the fact that I love the game. But it does matter when someone comes to this board, says Hl2 isn't great then adds something like this... "no doubt you fan boys will think different!". That's begging us to start a flame war. Flame wars are the last thing we need now, it's ruining the board for us, the fans.

 

[Maynard-]

1) There were alot of crap placeholder enemies too, although some very cool enemies were cut, like the Stalker that shot red lasers from its eyes

2) There was no storyline in the alpha.

3) That was the blue physgun, and yes, welding things together was cool, but it would be unpractical for use in SP. What are you going to do? Weld together barrels in the shape of a giant robot while fast zombies break through the skylight and ninjakick you?

4) In the alpha, the multiplayer code sucked and there was more lag than anything.

5) Sniper rifle, sure I would of liked to use it, but lets face it, an anti-tank rifle would of exactly fit into the storyline either (maybe against Striders, but that's about it)

6) OICW, people in the future aren't stupid enough to use that hulking piece of crap gun.

7) The SP experience was an offensive (not defensive) experience. I'd say at least 98% of the time you were expected to assault, not retreat. Thus making any sort of booby trap (like remote mines), useless

8) Combine stun baton, yes I agree this should of been kept in the game, but if you think about it, it's just like the crowbar, and didn't really have any redeeming qualities except it looked and sounded cool.

9) HDR didn't even work in the alpha, the only place you saw it was the HDR effects bink video.

 

[vertthrasher]

Did it come with the IceBreaker Level? and if so, at what point in the game did it appear?

Also, did it come with the blue tentancle that stabs a combine soldier in the back (as seen in one of the trailers)?

Everything seen in e3 2k3 was in it. Coast was in it, but changed just a bit. ALL of city 17 was in it, but changed a little bit. Nova prospekt was about 1/2 finished. Pretty much the full game, without the "between" chapters that led you from one place to the next. The only chapters that weren't in the leak were sandtraps, water hazard, the last levels, the first 3 chapters were about 1/2 complete, Nova Prospekt was about 1/3 complete... Now that I think about it, nearly the entire game was finished map wise. In case you didn't know and had the leak. There was a "map pack" released with even more maps in it. But from what im going off of is the initial leak. Going from the leak to final, I would say the leak was 73% done with hl2. If by icebreaker you mean the ship, then yes but the leak was released at a point where they already started the "new" story so it started at the train and was SUPPOSED to start at the ship.

 

[SFLUFAN]

I don't think this is evidence of a rushed game do you?

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/914642.asp

 

[Odysseus]

First off, there were about 30 enemies that were cut. The story was DRASTICALLY changed from something good.... to something wack... There was this one gun that could "weld" objects together so you could make ANYTHING. In the multiplayer, people would weld compressed air to the sides of the buggy, then shoot off the caps so all the air shot out, then use that as a super turbo. Or People would weld their own boats and actually be able to use them. It was insanely fun. Sniper rifle was cut, oicw was cut, there was this one gun that shot out little blobs of explosive that you could shoot like... as many as you wanted basically. then with secondary fire they would all detonate. It was a very fun and a very potentially strategical weapon. A lot more weapons, you could actually use the combine electric bat thing. Too many enemies were cut to even count with a calculator. HDRR really made the graphics shine...... but hdrr was sadly cut. IM me if you want more details.

I cannot send IM's b/c I haven't been a member for more than 5 days. Can you IM me with your e-mail address, or AIM, or whatever so I can ask you more questions? thanks

 

[Maynard-]

No, it'll stop when people like "NIBully" accept other people's opinions. To his eyes, anyone that does not agree with him, in this case, is a fanboy.

I don't mind if you didn't like Hl2, why should I give a damn? All that matters is the fact that I love the game. But it does matter when someone comes to this board, says Hl2 isn't great then adds something like this... "no doubt you fan boys will think different!". That's begging us to start a flame war. Flame wars are the last thing we need now, it's ruining the board for us, the fans.

Funny how people come to halflife2.net and accuse people of being halflife fanboys. No shit really?

 

[subtlesnake]

Whatever Valve produced some people wouldn't be happy. People will accuse them of lying, of pissing on their customers just because what was produced doesn't measure up to the little fantasy inside their heads.

Any game can be analysed and be broken down and criticised arbritarily "oh HL is just about jumping puzzles and shooting". And often games do follow simple formulas. It was said by the developers of Halo that their gameplay was really just 30 seconds of fun that was repeated again and again and again.

This is why these discussions go nowhere. Because facial animations and emotional content mean a lot more to some people than their presence in a bulleted list indicates.

"Tetris is just about moving some blocks about - honestly what’s fun about that"

 

[vertthrasher]

1) There were alot of crap placeholder enemies too, although some very cool enemies were cut, like the Stalker that shot red lasers from its eyes

2) There was no storyline in the alpha.

3) That was the blue physgun, and yes, welding things together was cool, but it would be unpractical for use in SP. What are you going to do? Weld together barrels in the shape of a giant robot while fast zombies break through the skylight and ninjakick you?

4) In the alpha, the multiplayer code sucked and there was more lag than anything.

5) Sniper rifle, sure I would of liked to use it, but lets face it, an anti-tank rifle would of exactly fit into the storyline either (maybe against Striders, but that's about it)

6) OICW, people in the future aren't stupid enough to use that hulking piece of crap gun.

7) The SP experience was an offensive (not defensive) experience. I'd say at least 98% of the time you were expected to assault, not retreat. Thus making any sort of booby trap (like remote mines), useless

8) Combine stun baton, yes I agree this should of been kept in the game, but if you think about it, it's just like the crowbar, and didn't really have any redeeming qualities except it looked and sounded cool.

9) HDR didn't even work in the alpha, the only place you saw it was the HDR effects bink video.

for 1, hdr DID work. You just had to have hardware that supported it. Secondly, sp was nearly the same as the final. Third, can you tell me how the crossbow fits into the story!?!?! The combine HAVE snipers, but I have yet to see 1 enemy carrying a crossbow. The multiplayer lags just as bad now as it did then. Have you played dm or co op with anyone? The story was exactly the same, almost all of the voice acting was finished. The blue physgun should have been kept in the game to be gotten through the console or something. Also, it makes just as much sense to have the physgun as it does to have the gravity gun. There used to be some puzzles in the alpha that required the physgun. 1 I can remember from canals when you had to grab the compressed air with the physgun so you could use them to blow up the heli. You could also weld together A sturdy shield to use, thats what I did. I also welded "wings" to the side of the buggy to trip combine that weren't in my initial path. You could also weld doors shut, or weld a better barrier.

 

[Pauly]

Well, if you listened to alyx, she said "Dog, take gordod through the ravenholm passageway, circle around through ravenholm, gordon. Meet me on the coast"

 

[vertthrasher]

nevermind

 

[Odysseus]

vertthrasher, Maynard,
could you post a picture of the physgun in action? tx

 

[Spartan]

Well, if you listened to alyx, she said "Dog, take gordod through the ravenholm passageway, circle around through ravenholm, gordon. Meet me on the coast"

It would have been much more simple if Gordon had simply stayed with Alyx instead of going on pointless sightseeing in Ravenholm.

 

[vertthrasher]

sry, I deleted the leak when hl2 went gold. Go download the mod for hl1 called "Scientist Slaughterhouse" One of the weapons was EXACLTY like the physgun except you couldn't "weld".

 

[Maynard-]

No, HDR did not work. The DLL has never worked. You can ask anyone that has used the alpha that has any sort of sense whatsoever. Hence why they are now trying to use the shader DLL from the alpha to enable HDR in the final version and guess what? It still doesn't work.

Yes it's true that the combine have snipers, but they also aren't using a giant anti-tank rifle like the sniper rifle was in the alpha.

Tell me why do you think the multiplayer lags as bad as it did in the alpha? Oh wait, maybe because you aren't supposed to be playing HL2 SP over the internet! They made it for playing alone, not with others, so when you force it to do something it isn't made to do, of course theres going to be issues you face.

I remember the airtank puzzle as well. Now while that was neat and all, the problem comes into play with the mechanics (i.e. remember how bad the boat used to stick on turns), Plus if I remember correctly, Eli still had a leg in that level, makes it harder to run from combine if you're 65 years old and missing one leg don't ya think? Plus it wouldn't fit into the storyline with the whole teleportation theme and all.

As for the welding, you could also weld things to make stairs to bypass parts of the game that you weren't meant to, and see areas the game developers didn't want you to see. You have to maintain a sense of linear-ism if you want a game to successfully immerse you.

 

[Mr.Wotsit]

These forums are full of so many idiots. I swear, if the moderators gave the people with half a brain the control to remove all these fools, it would be a fantastic place to discuss things because there are some intelligent individuals around here with some interesting ideas.

Of course, this thread isn't full of those ideas...

To say that Half Life 2 hasn't raised the bar is pure ignorance for every reason. If this game wasn't good enough, it would have been made very clear, especially after recent examples such as Doom3. Some people are going to like it more than others and, on the whole, the people who frequent the main Half Life 2 forum on the internet are likely to be the prime examples of this group.

I mean, it's a simple fact that Valve didn't miss the bar. The amount of work that has obviously gone into each and every moment of this game is brilliant if you have the attention to appreciate it. Be aware of what is happening around you and think like a designer, the pacing, characterisation and technique that Valve has presented here is exemplary and has indeed raised a bar that other games will now be judged by. It simply uses techniques in manny areas that have not been present in this format before. And that is something to be encouraged, rewarded and respected.

As for Ravenholm, it's a set piece. It's fun, it's incorporated into the story and it's a set piece. Why is it in the game? Because it's cool - a good environment that allows some nice twists on the dynamic of the gravity gun, embellishes on the zombies of the first game and allows the developers to take the player from one location to another in an atmosphere that is different to what they have played before in the game. Variety is the spice of life and Half Life 2 is packed with many different types of these areas and situations so that the player may constantly encounter refreshing and interesting surroundings.

I'm no more a "fan boy" than I am a "noob" or an idiot. I'm a discerning and critical consumer that recognises that the practices Valve are undertaking in almost every area need to be encouraged and supported by us.

Even if you don't understand why Ravenholm is in the game, you still enjoyed it and, in the end, isn't that what it's all really all about?

 

[Odysseus]

well I also wanted to see the welding in action =)

 

[Maynard-]

Also you have to remember this, you were never meant to see the alpha. Every game out there has some sort of slapdash alpha put together during development with a buttload of ideas in it, most halfbaked. Then they slowly trim it down until they have a polished final product that makes sense and they release it. So if you had never seen that alpha, this game would of been just what they claimed it to be.

 

[Spartan]

Tell me why do you think the multiplayer lags as bad as it did in the alpha? Oh wait, maybe because you aren't supposed to be playing HL2 SP over the internet!

HL2's netcode is what powers Counter-Strike: Source.

I mean, it's a simple fact that Valve didn't miss the bar. The amount of work that has obviously gone into each and every moment of this game is brilliant if you have the attention to appreciate it. Be aware of what is happening around you and think like a designer, the pacing, characterisation and technique that Valve has presented here is exemplary and has indeed raised a bar that other games will now be judged by. It simply uses techniques in manny areas that have not been present in this format before. And that is something to be encouraged, rewarded and respected.

Despite your delusional notion that we're talking about facts, I'll just share a personal opinion: in terms of storyline, HL2 lowered the bar. It also didn't bring any new gameplay elements, apart from a few really simple physics puzzles. System Shock (circa 1993) did so much more, yet everyone is still stuck on Doom.

 

[Maynard-]

HL2's netcode is what powers Counter-Strike: Source.

Yeah, and Counter-Strike Source was made to be played over the internet. This guy is complaining about lag because he's forcing HL2 levels to be played over the internet.

 

[SFLUFAN]

Spartan:

You call this person's well-reasoned argument delusional? Well that abouts just about reveals the depth of your reasoning which is about as shallow as a wading pool.

You too easily scoff at what others have to say to satisfy your seeming need for intellectual superiority.

 

[Odysseus]

I'm a discerning and critical consumer that recognises that the practises Valve are undertaking in almost every area need to be encouraged and supported by us.

That's where you and I differ. I am a discerning and critical consumer that recognizes the practices Valve is undertaking in almost every area need to be discouraged and opposed by us.

 

[Spartan]

Spartan:

You call this person's well-reasoned argument delusional?

I said that it's delusional to turn subjective opinions into factual information.

That's where you and I differ. I am a discerning and critical consumer that recognizes the practices Valve is undertaking in almost every area need to be discouraged and opposed by us.

If you're talking about Steam, I agree.

 

[Chiefi]

Odysseus... aren't you supposed to be gone?

 

[SFLUFAN]

That's where you and I differ. I am a discerning and critical consumer that recognizes the practices Valve is undertaking in almost every area need to be discouraged and opposed by us.

No - you're just a whiney jerk who feels the need to post endless threads stating how upset you are at Valve and Half-Life 2 near constantly to satisfy your attention grabbing fetish.

Once I can understand, twice I can live with...but all the times you've done it have only proved that you are truly an attention whore (there I said it).

Besides, shouldn't you have left these forums by now?

 

[Odysseus]

Yes Spartan, I was refering to Steam.

You also have a good point here. These people fail to make a distinction between good facial expressions, body language, shadows, and a physics engine from a good storyline.

If all that counted were special effects, then why is it that Half Life is still fun to play, and why is it that people still watch the original Star Wars movies?

Half Life was pure genius. Half Life 2 was not.