So i just finished HL2: Episode 1

[Roberts91]

Sooooo I just finished Half-Life 2: Episode 1 .. and well it sucked! Nah just kidding..

It was kinda short. And I hated the dark areas where you couldnt even see your own gun or hands. Without a flashlight but my main concern is

When I completed the game it seemed the tower thing had exploded and the wolrd kinda like blew up. And it didnt even show the rest of it the screen just went white. I WAS LIKE WTF I wanted to continue and see how it blew up.

Anyone else didnt like that part?

 

[mastag]

Sooooo I just finished Half-Life 2: Episode 1 .. and well it sucked! Nah just kidding..

It was kinda short. And I hated the dark areas where you couldnt even see your own gun or hands. Without a flashlight but my main concern is

When I completed the game it seemed the tower thing had exploded and the wolrd kinda like blew up. And it didnt even show the rest of it the screen just went white. I WAS LIKE WTF I wanted to continue and see how it blew up.

Anyone else didnt like that part?

wrong section.

and, it's called a cliffhanger. we'll see it in episode 2.

 

[Rapstah]

Without a flashlight

O rly?

 

[Connor]

it was short because its just an episode. its not a whole new game. episode two will probably be just as short. but Half-Life 3 will be as long as Half-Life 2 or Half-Life. The episodes in between are just the untold parts of the story that they couldn't fit into the games.

 

[McGooTheWise]

it was short because its just an episode. its not a whole new game. episode two will probably be just as short. but Half-Life 3 will be as long as Half-Life 2 or Half-Life. The episodes in between are just the untold parts of the story that they couldn't fit into the games.

No, episode 2 is supposed to have at least 8 hours of game play in it. The Episodes are a way for valve to get the games out to us faster, because they are just a bit shorter than actual games. (Btw, hl2 was kind of short in it's own respect)

 

[leib10]

Yes, but it's also good that it isn't overly long either.

 

[Connor]

true. also, having short episodes in between games is a good way to keep people interested. instead of making them wait like 3 years for the new title to come out.

 

[Oppressor]

When I completed the game it seemed the tower thing had exploded and the wolrd kinda like blew up. And it didnt even show the rest of it the screen just went white. I WAS LIKE WTF I wanted to continue and see how it blew up.

Anyone else didnt like that part?

It was the most fantastic scene I have seen in a game. Period. Wait until october and you will see what happens next in Episode Two

 

[Rapstah]

Valve tried to make it one game first, then skipped it as it took too much time, pushed the first four chapters into an episode and released it.

Pretty awesome way of doing things right there.

 

[Shift]

Indeed, episodes are way of releasing sections of the game quickly, getting feedback, and then building on that feedback within the next episode. They can also keep up to date with the latest technology.

One did well, and if two and three do just as well, then HL3 (or HL4 in other technicalities) will most likely be done in episodes too. Instead of waiting 6 years for a full game.

and yeah Roberts, its meant to leave you hyped for the second episode, thats why we have all been counting the months for it to be released lol.

 

[Asknoone]

Valve tried to make it one game first, then skipped it as it took too much time, pushed the first four chapters into an episode and released it.

Pretty awesome way of doing things right there.

You do know that's wrong, right?

 

[McGooTheWise]

You do know that's wrong, right?

You should enlighten him.

 

[Rapstah]

You do know that's wrong, right?

I do know the being one game at first is right. The rest is pretty much speculation.

 

[Asknoone]

The former is wrong.

 

[Rapstah]

Rephrase that.

 

[McGooTheWise]

Former = previous.

 

[Iron_cube]

I laugh everytime I see the words "Half-Life 3"

 

[McGooTheWise]

I laugh everytime I see the words "Half-Life 3"

I lol'd.

 

[ríomhaire]

The episodes were always planned as episodes, never as a whole new game. Valve said that Half-Life 2 nearly burned out their staff so they didn't want to do another full game immediatly, so they're doing episodes instead.

 

[Iron_cube]

I beleive big-G said that the episodes were HL3 in some interview.

 

[Oppressor]

True. They just didn't call them Half-Life 3: Episode One etc

 

[Godron]

It was kinda short. And I hated the dark areas where you couldnt even see your own gun or hands. Without a flashlight but my main concern is

When I completed the game it seemed the tower thing had exploded and the wolrd kinda like blew up. And it didnt even show the rest of it the screen just went white. I WAS LIKE WTF I wanted to continue and see how it blew up.

Anyone else didnt like that part?

So you didn't have a flashlight... talk to Xendance, he's been there. I had some ugly driver issues, and first time played I had to play it in windowed mode, which for some reason made the whole picture a lot darker. It was bloody difficult to see what you were doing even with the flashlight on. Much swearing ensued. So yeah, I kind of know how you feel.

And as for the ending... yep, it's called a cliffhanger. At worst, it was abrupt.

 

[Iron_cube]

Well, you actually need to be aware that you won't be able to fully enjoy a source game with a dx6 card.

Don't say the game is shit just because of your hardware :hmph:

 

[Godron]

Well, you actually need to be aware that you won't be able to fully enjoy a source game with a dx6 card.

Don't say the game is shit just because of your hardware :hmph:

I never said the game was shit. My graphics card supports HDR and I've got DirectX 9c. The reason I had problems was that (I think) my computer was telling me I had a graphics card that I didn't have, so I spent ages trying to update the drivers by downloading the wrong ones. Now that the PC's been formatted twice (for unrelated reasons) it says I have a different card. But yeah, the game was generally quite awesome, except maybe Exit 17 and those parts full of antlions. All I meant was that it was frustrating not being able to see straight.

 

[Asknoone]

And as for the ending... yep, it's called a cliffhanger. At worst, it was abrupt.

Huh? From the opening of the game you are told, quite clearly, the Citadel is going to explode, and that the games goal is to escape. Abrupt how?

 

[Godron]

Huh? From the opening of the game you are told, quite clearly, the Citadel is going to explode, and that the games goal is to escape. Abrupt how?

I heard other people call it abrupt. I think had a vague idea that it was going to end like that, so I didn't find it too abrupt. I think the problem was more that it ended quicker than people expected, rather than too abruptly.

 

[Iron_cube]

Honestly the only thing I hate in episode one is how you can idle for hours in the citadel and city17 without any REAL time-based objective and fear of everything being destroyed in seconds.

I know I know, playtesters hated Alyx nagging them and they hated not taking the time to look around ect ect ect blahblahlah. But still..

 

[Godron]

Honestly the only thing I hate in episode one is how you can idle for hours in the citadel and city17 without any REAL time-based objective and fear of everything being destroyed in seconds.

I know I know, playtesters hated Alyx nagging them and they hated not taking the time to look around ect ect ect blahblahlah. But still..

I know. Towards the end you can hear these distant rumbling noises coming from the citadel. They should have put those in the whole way, it would have increased the sense of urgency. I think you're right, something real was needed to increase the urgency. Perhaps large pieces of debris that fall occasionally and can kill you would have worked. I see no reason why they didn't put a time limit in somewhere, Direct Intervention (while stabalising the core) gets my vote. As long as it isn't too short, it would still have created a sense of urgency.

 

[undertone]

maybe even a really quiet ticking noise in the background. subliminal yes. gives the effect of time running out? oh hell yes. it could have even been in the soundscape.

either way, a timer would have been kinda cool... but if it didnt turn into a gimmick.

 

[ríomhaire]

maybe even a really quiet ticking noise in the background. subliminal yes. gives the effect of time running out? oh hell yes. it could have even been in the soundscape.

either way, a timer would have been kinda cool... but if it didnt turn into a gimmick.

An on-screen timer? That would truly suck balls. And you can't have a time limit for the game for one simple reason: People could take their time in Lowlife, progress through the entire reast of the game and then in the last map discover that it is impossible to finish the game because they have no time and they would have to START AGAIN ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE THIRD CHAPTER.

 

[undertone]

An on-screen timer? That would truly suck balls. And you can't have a time limit for the game for one simple reason: People could take their time in Lowlife, progress through the entire reast of the game and then in the last map discover that it is impossible to finish the game because they have no time and they would have to START AGAIN ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE THIRD CHAPTER.

can you read? i said soundscape. where did i say on screen. the timer wouldnt HAVE to work how your suggesting either. each chapter could start the timer from again, or refresh it to a new time.

 

[Asknoone]

maybe even a really quiet ticking noise in the background. subliminal yes. gives the effect of time running out? oh hell yes. it could have even been in the soundscape.

either way, a timer would have been kinda cool... but if it didnt turn into a gimmick.

How can you predict when a reactor is going to explode? Isn't that like, abit...cliche? You'd need to design the whole game around that kind of thing.

 

[Godron]

They should have put a timer in Direct Intervention while you try to stabalise the core. Instead of having it on screen though, they should have made the core change colour and expand, and if you leave it long enough then alarms start and Alyx starts banging on the window etc. I suppose the problem is that people won't be able to judge how much time they have left without an on-screen timer. Also, seeing as its a puzzle, people like to take their time. But they could make it a large time limit, so that people underestimate how much time they have left.
The whole point of it though is to increase the sense of urgency, so even if time isn't actually that short, you can still trick people into thinking it is.

 

[ríomhaire]

each chapter could start the timer from again, or refresh it to a new time.

But that simply wouldn't make any sense.

 

[undertone]

But that simply wouldn't make any sense.

neither does this thing really. its a giant floating cybernetic psychic worm.

i dunno, maybe a timer wouldn't be that good. but some way to make it feel like you are running out of time would have been nice.

 

[ríomhaire]

neither does this thing really. its a giant floating cybernetic psychic worm.

How does that not make sense? It certainly makes more sense than the citadel's core resetting itself based on how fast Gordon and Alyx are progressing.

i dunno, maybe a timer wouldn't be that good. but some way to make it feel like you are running out of time would have been nice.

I agree. Bits of the citadel falling near the player would have been good I think (Not close enough to kill the player though, that would be stupid. I just mean within the same map).