New info from the gameplay videos

kattmat

Newbie
Joined
Sep 30, 2005
Messages
126
Reaction score
1
I thought it would be a good idea to create a common thread about the huge amount of information we now have about Episode 2. Lets start with some obvious features:

Several new enemies are seen, like the bug in the cave, a possibly poisonous antlion and of course the hunter. I really love that you can kill the hunters with heavy objects, since it makes combat much more varied.

Combines can now throw your grenade back at you and even more awesome, you can now kill a hunter-chopper with it's own mines.

The car looks ok, perhaps a bit to fast for my taste, but i guess that might change. Zombies jumping on the car is also a great addition.
Maps are now very open, at least it looks like that from video 5 and I believe you can spend several hours exploring and fighting all the mini-battles going on everywhere

And the physics looks fantastic. Now, does someone else has something to add to this list?
 
Alyx and the G-Man have some sort of connection now i think
 
Alyx and the G-Man have some sort of connection now i think


I can't wait how it develops....I bet she trys to make a deal so that the G-man will leave Gordon alone, so Alyx is G-man's new slave instead of Gordon...
 
I don't know if it's just me, but some of the Antlions in the first video, in the area where Gordon drops that gate down to block them, looked white. And when the Vort or Gordon killed them some exploded into huge clouds of whiteness. Are those the poisonous ones? Seemed like clouds of acid.
 
I can't wait how it develops....I bet she trys to make a deal so that the G-man will leave Gordon alone, so Alyx is G-man's new slave instead of Gordon...

I'd say thats pretty unlikely. I'm not quite sure what Gman is up to.
 
If you consider how a normal trailer is constructed, the part about Alyx and GMan is most likely from the end of Episode 2's story arc meaning that they're showing the effect and you have to play the game to understand the cause for that particular clip seen in trailer.
 
I'd say thats pretty unlikely. I'm not quite sure what Gman is up to.

Just makes it all the more better =D

I tell you ya, Valve are like masters at creating exiting about their games, i think everyone is dieing to play it now :rolling:
 
I'd say thats pretty unlikely. I'm not quite sure what Gman is up to.

The video i just watched he walked up to alyx and said 'you're not supposed to be here' which i found very interesting. He also says 'you won't remember a thing', so Gman has wiped Alyx's memory perhaps?
 
Hey, where's that video with Alyx and Gman? I've missed that part...
 
Thanks. Anyone got the high resolution version?

ps - dynamic shadows look brilliant!
 
The video i just watched he walked up to alyx and said 'you're not supposed to be here' which i found very interesting. He also says 'you won't remember a thing', so Gman has wiped Alyx's memory perhaps?

I think he says "Forget about all this."
 
"You're not supposed to be here. Forget about all this."
- G-Man at GC 2006

:p
 
What new technical aspects can we see in the video?

- There's motion blur, this could be prerendered like the TF2/Portal teaser, but it's more subtle and isn't a blend of that many frames (or however it works) so I suppose this level of motion blur can be realtime.

snapshot20060825175244fz4.jpg


- Can't say if there's DoF, resolution is too low. But the previous HD trailer of Ep2 did show a blurred background.

- There's now lights that cast selfshadows, among those the flashlight. However, the self-shadowing seems to apply only to special lights (a seperate entity from env_light) and not to the static lights. Static lights (env_light) don't cast selfshadows, but the direction of the shadow does change depending on where the light is (can already be seen in Dark Messiah). When there isn't a env_light nearby, it uses the global shadow direction that you set in your map (how shadows work now in HL2).

- Particle effects look better. No idea what has changed, but blowing up an antlion never looked this good :naughty:
 
I just looked at highres versions from Fileplanet, and I noticed when he turns the flashlight on; there's no flashlight power bar(aux)? Gordon has unlimited battery now or what is going on?

But the bar is there when he uses the sprint function.
 
I just looked at highres versions from Fileplanet, and I noticed when he turns the flashlight on; there's no flashlight power bar(aux)? Gordon has unlimited battery now or what is going on?

Well, Alyx did say something about getting an upgrade for your flashlight from Dr. Kleiner in Episode 1.
 
I think G-man says "Your not supposed to be here, Forget about all this." which is directed towards Gordon not Alyx, well atleast Half-Directed to her. The line "Forget about this." means "Gordon Forget about Alyx.".

"This" means 'Alyx' I believe.

G-Room.jpg
 
I just looked at highres versions from Fileplanet, and I noticed when he turns the flashlight on; there's no flashlight power bar(aux)? Gordon has unlimited battery now or what is going on?

But the bar is there when he uses the sprint function.
Damn you! I was just about to post that! Also, 2 wierd bars appear on the HUD when Gordon gets poisoned.
Edit: Now that I think about it 2 lines of writing appear when Gordon is poisoned in HL2, don't they. He only gets poisoned to 79 health though.
 
How 'bout the Vortigaunt's new WWF moves? I don't remember if he caught the ant lion in the air or picked it up, but I'd let him handle most of the fighting with moves like that.
 
Maybe its scripted but looks like the combine soldiers might be able to fire flares to summon reinforcements
 
What new technical aspects can we see in the video?

- There's motion blur, this could be prerendered like the TF2/Portal teaser, but it's more subtle and isn't a blend of that many frames (or however it works) so I suppose this level of motion blur can be realtime.
If that was captured from a video camera, you can't say that is motion blur in the game (looking at the picture posted). Which will blend the frames just by capturing what the monitor displays.
You'd have to wait until it gets released on steam and then you can see what the all digital version looks like.
 
I don't remember seeing Gordon getting poisoned in any of the gameplay videos...
 
He does get poisoned. When he jumps down and fights those antlions in the 1st vid. He gets attacked by an antlion and then you hear the HEV suit beeping.
 
Yeah but the poison didn't take him to 1 health point so i guess the poison must be weaker.
Antlions seen so get splattered more when hit.
 
If that was captured from a video camera, you can't say that is motion blur in the game (looking at the picture posted). Which will blend the frames just by capturing what the monitor displays.
You'd have to wait until it gets released on steam and then you can see what the all digital version looks like.

Video doesn't look captured by a cam, no shaking, no background noise, no environment lighting brightening up a screen, it's not taken from any angle.

That screen capture was from the IGN video, not the shaky cams that can be found on YouTube and such.
 
Back
Top