I'm glad I didn't buy Episode Two

[Qzare]

I planned to buy Episode Two, until the day I learned that our friends at Valve would only sell it bundled with products I already own. I would have paid $20 for Episode Two and maybe $30 for Episode Two and Portal, but not $50 for the Orange Box. The Orange Box might be a great deal for those who don't own Half Life 2 & Episode One, but for people like I, it's like getting raped. And while we are at it, how many persons who don't own a copy of Half Life 2 & Episode One even thought or are even thinking about buying Episode Two? If they thought about buying the Orange Box because of Portal or Team Fortress 2, it's a shame they were not given the option to buy either product separately. Shame on them, too, for giving their hard earned money to Valve.

Just from watching youtube videos of Episode Two, I can tell that while the game appears to be a great improvement over previous installments of the series, its mood is still gloomy and depressing like that of HL2 & Ep1. (At least its open country environment with lots of trees and lots of mountains is a great relief over the torturous environment of City 17.) And those who think Episode Two has better graphics than Crysis are...nuts. Speaking of youtube videos, I already watched a couple of videos of the intro and the ending of Episode Two, and neither one shows anything great.

I'm also unsatisfied with the direction the series has taken. All of a sudden some kids from some technical institute came up with portals and now Laidlaw wants us to believe that those portals are the key to explaining a lot of the mysteries surrounding Half Life and Half Life 2. Give me a break. If those kids had chosen to study accounting instead of video game design I can't help but wonder what course the series would have taken.

All in all, I'm just glad I did not buy Episode Two.

 

[Newblade]

Are you trying to convince yourself that you made the right decision?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

well if you saw from the package listing, individually Ep.2 is worth $30, I thought about it too and for $20 more I get portal which looks quite worth while (worth $20 stand alone) and team fortress 2 which while I wasn't looking really forward too, is a nice bonus. So the two games I did want come for $50 individually, I got for $44.95 preorder deal cheaper and with that bonus of TF2. Also I'm gifting the copies of Ep.1 and HL2 to my bro who wanted it for a long time. Nothing is a loss here for me.

 

[anamnesis]

No, he's another spammer trying to see if he can generate another three or four pages of trollfeed.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

OH btw, you can buy Ep.2 standalone at aforementioned price, knock yourself out.

 

[Asus]

I planned to buy Episode Two, until the day I learned that our friends at Valve would only sell it bundled with products I already own.

OH btw, you can buy Ep.2 standalone at aforementioned price, knock yourself out.

Aye, Episode 2 for $29.95.. Silly nub.

 

[The Mild Gatsby]

Portal itself has nothing to do with the storyline. Aperture science, coined by VALVe, may be Portal's setting, but is wholey a VALVe creation and most likely would've factored in, anyhow.

 

[Zeus]

Well congrats on spoiling a great game for yourself by watching youtube videos. And where did you get that orange box is a rip off? It's one of the best deals I've ever seen for a game. Let's not forget there's 5 games in the box. And you can buy them separately though it's a ripoff unless you get the full package.

 

[taviow]

I'm also unsatisfied with the direction the series has taken. All of a sudden some kids from some technical institute came up with portals and now Laidlaw wants us to believe that those portals are the key to explaining a lot of the mysteries surrounding Half Life and Half Life 2. Give me a break.

You have just described what makes the game so awesome.

 

[Pesmerga]

Qzare, shut up.

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

@Qzare - if you already have HL2 and Episode 1, and if you don't intend to play Portal or TF2, the $29.95 Steam download of Episode 2 is the way to go.

E1 sold for $20 at an estimated 4 hours of gameplay; E2 is $30 for an estimated 6 hours of gameplay. Makes sense.

 

[Qonfused]

TF2 is worth $50 alone.

 

[Gunner]

I'm glad you didn't buy Episode two.

 

[taviow]

Maybe the excellent reviews were not enough to convince him! He obviously needs more proof!

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

So tell me why you registered on this site just to post that? Seriously its cheap, quit pinching pennies over there. For 3 games, $50 is cheap, Bioshock is $50 and you're only getting a SP game, yet no one bitches about that....

 

[Asuka]

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showpost.php?p=2394292&postcount=2

If i knew you in real life i swear ill punch you in the face because of how stupid you are.

 

[anamnesis]

So tell me why you registered on this site just to post that?

Because he's a troll. Everyone keep feeding him, he loves it.

 

[lifebringer]

Part of me thinks your just trolling, part of me *knows* you're trying to justify your decision to yourself (consciously or not!)...yet part of me sympathizes enough to give you a legitimate response. Here goes.

----------

I imagine EP2 will be sold individually (on Steam, at least, though probably never anywhere else), sooner or later. Whether that is next month or in a few years..I don't know.

Anyway you bring up value. Originally, I was a bit dissapointed that us HL2 and EP1 owners wouldn't get $15-25 off the $50-60 orange box. Most of us would take that in place of "gift" (although presumably sellable) versions of those games anyday.

However, I paid the $45 preorder anyway. And I've three things to say:

1) Team Fortress 2. I haven't played this week, but I've put on a modest 10+ hrs since the beta was made accessible. Many have put on scores of hours, but either way, I'm sure over the next few years, I will play 100+, 200+, 300+ hours...
2) Episode 2. Put on 7hrs of solid gameplay on Hard yesterday, and so far spent 10hrs in game. I'm sure after I've replayed that again over the next few weeks, and a third time before EP3 comes out, I'll have spent 20 hours in game. And that's on a 1/3 "full" game Episode.
3) Portal. Spent 4 hours yesterday on the single-player story, another hour on 5/6 advanced maps. I'll never beat all the challenges, but I'm sure you could spend 20-50 hours on those. Then in the downloadable maps we are sure to see over the next few years...

On the low end, that's 25 hours played so far, without including the value of HL2 and EP1 (and it may well be possible to sell those for a few bucks to someone).

On the high end, if you ask me in a few years how much time the $45 Orange Box bought me? Well..let's take a conservative 20 hours screwing around in Portal, 20 hours TOTAL in-game in EP2, and 100 (and that's pretty conservative for a few years) hours in TF2...Wow, 155 hours.

140 hours for $45. And that's only the three games we didn't own. Yes, it would have been nice to have a discount for being a HL2/EP1 previous-owner, but I'm not going to complain. Halo 3 cost $60 (for my console gaming friends, that is!) and got me 7hrs of single player + many multiplayer hours.

As always...I remind myself to measuring gaming value to movies...a movie costs $10 (more with refreshments..and you have to drive there!) for TWO ****ING HOURS. Movie value: $5+/hour NET cost. Hell, some people don't even make $5/hr NET. Yet the Orange Box will be (to me, at least) 140+ hours for $45, or 32 cents per hour. I'd say that's the very definition of value.

Kthxbye.

----------

Regarding story: if the direction the games' have take storywise doesn't interest you, you're better off elsewhere. The rest of us love it.

I'm also unsatisfied with the direction the series has taken. All of a sudden some kids from some technical institute came up with portals and now Laidlaw wants us to believe that those portals are the key to explaining a lot of the mysteries surrounding Half Life and Half Life 2. Give me a break.

You have just described what makes the game so awesome.

Indeed. Science fiction at its best: you take an interesting (and often theoretical) scientific concept from our world into a fictional one. The shorter the leap, and the more time the viewer (player) is in your 'world,' the more immersive. This is the fourth game, and I don't consider any of the scientific leaps to be very unbelievable...thus I'm ready to accept the story once I'm in-game. The main characters are various physicists and their friends/relatives. Man, take a look at what physicists are doing today, in 2007. I recall that we had teleported some particle (may have been a photon or electron, albeit I belive neither has mass...if that's right?) a DECADE ago... Einstein wrote about potential 'wormhole' portals what, seventy years ago? Do some research on what the name "Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator" conjures, scientifically... Oh, and there are aliens out there...my God, who would have thought...

...I don't consider the scientific jumps the half-life story has taken to reach science-fiction all that unbelievable.

----------

Emotionally... I don't find it sad or depressing; I find it realistic. The games are emotional...not solely a sad or gloomy emotion (stay away from Bioshock if you don't like that in a game)...there are many a moment where I smirk, or laugh, am afraid, etc. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I were to cry in EP3 or HL3 (I'm a guy). But you know what? All of that is real life stuff. Considering the earth-bound story only -- that aliens have invaded and we are fighting for control of our planet and race -- I consider the emotions in the game pretty damn realistic.

----------

If those kids had chosen to study accounting instead of video game design I can't help but wonder what course the series would have taken.

LOL! WTF M8?! What kids? In-game scientists or Valve developers? Unless either 1) accountants often go to work developing video games, or 2) the scientists at Black Mesa also studied video game design.....this part is so inconsisent it makes me feel you're just an idiot troll and I've just wasted my time. Wow. Congratulations, you succeded.

Hopefully this thread provided useful to SOMEONE other than the OP....

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Don't feed the trolls.