Was it really worth the wait? FLAME ME!

[DarkNyghtOwl]

/bof
First, pls excuse typos...and PLEASE PLEASE do NOT READ THIS if you have an IQ lower than room-temperature. Constructive argument I welcome.... but I will not be baited by comments like *f.u. come on CS an Ill w00p yr a$$ c0z 1 A|\/| a 5p0tty 01k*

Well, I bought the game on thursday...it is now saturday and I have finished on medium skill level... I'm also half-thru on hard.. Was it good? yes. Was it as good as the hype? absolutely but sadly not.

I am not complaining as such; hell! it was better than doom3 (not that that takes much... fekkin monkey island 1 is better than doom3 lol)... for my money, doom was just a slightly-better-exercise-in-dynamic-lighting-than-splintercell 1.

But... 7 years in the dev-lab and I still get stuck in the scenery on multiple occasions. Such a simple thing... me + wall+ pipe = restart. Admittedly, I was sometime able to get out with a little KB hammering hehe, but c'mon! It shoudn't happen.
The game also does not have exclusive access to the Keyboard I notice.... NO I am not talking about CTRL-ESC which imho is the ONE AND ONLY sacrosanct KB shortcut within WindozeXP. What I mean is this: many, many MANY times whilst I was playing I would notice the systray begin to flicker thru and disturb the game... this would soon make the game stutter, then it would allow sys-sounds to disturb the game to the point of unplayability---eventually slowing to a stuttery crawl. *sigh* quit/restart.
Maybe it is something to do with the language-bar in XP? Well, whatever it is it is frustrating and silly... The language-bar is an essential part of my config...allowing me to easily change twixt English and Trad.Chinese... this sort of thing just should not happen.
I am currently about half-way through my second playing of the game.. but this time on hard-difficulty. I always play an FPS twice at least... once on normal/medium... and then on hard. The only exception to this lil personal rule is the THIEF series of games... where I always pick the hardest level first time.:cheers:
Anyways... Graphically I must say that sometimes during the game I just kinda *phased-out* and went wandering around admiring the sheer beauty of the world! from the birds (one of which I shot dead (a crow) cos I could have sworn it was a head-shagger in the middle distance lol. This world that valve have created reminds me very much of the first time that I visited Berlin about 20yrs ago... Me and my guide decided to wander outside of the Wall... into East Berlin... Because he wanted to show me what life was like outside of the *little-piece-of-the-west* which is west Berlin....thats right kids, the wall was around the WEST of Berlin.
It was stark, cold, oppressive and slightly seedy... imho.
Well, that is what city 17 reminds me of... the devs/designers could not (imho) have done a better job of portraying a world governed by fear. It really has brught back a veritable FLOOD of memories for me. I kinda half-expected to see *the pope's revenge* shining over some nearby half-destroyed wall.
Graphically... this game is DROP-DEAD-GORGEOUS! If you have the patience, I urge you to play it again... SLOOOOOOWLY and take in all that the devs have offered you, visually
AI.... well well well.. I am sure that we all recalll the first moments of hype/news/near-hysteria about HL2 when valve finally advised the world that they had indeed been working on HL2 since the release of HL1.. palms were a-sweating... brows were a-furrowed... and trigger fingers were twitching like a... BIG TWTCHING THING! Then...some a$$-wipe stole the code and we waited...OH HOW WE WAITED! The stories of unscripted AI... of enemies directly reacting to YOUR PLAY STYLE! Of fiendish combine soldiers who *sussed* your tactics and would react differenetly...randomly...but intelligently.
Did it happen? was it delivered? To be honest... I am not sure...
As far as I saw in the first playing... the answer is a resounding NO.. especially at the sequence/level where you had to kill the striders roaming outside that presidential-palace...
The combine behaved like complete fekkin idiots... it really destroyed what shpould have been one of the most exciting pats of the game... After I had taken care of all the striders and had begun to make my way BACK to the front of the complex I killed 7 combine soldiers who EACH wandered to the VERY SPOT where 6,5,4,3,2,1 of their companions had been killed by me and my trusty sniping-Xbow.
Stunning AI??
I really, sadly, do NOT THINK SO!
combine grunt no.1: i will stand there...
me: POP...yr dead!
combine grunt no.2: hey..that spot is the EXACT spot my buddy died...I reckon I should stand RIGHT THERE!
me: POP...yr dead!
RINSE AND RPT!

Stunning AI? no.
Better than previous games AI? maybe; just... maybe.

Variety of enemy: pretty *not very good* aka *average* really.

Difficulty of enemy: not too taxing, really. FFS, the enemies in Chrome were more tricky.

Intelligence of support NPCs: hmmm.. not too bad I suppose. Stairs were tricky, but I make no complaint about that cos MAAAAN thats gotta be some funky-a$$ tricky programming!

Moments that made me *jump* in either fear/surprise/what-not:
None, really.

Moments that made me drop my jaw and just bow-down to game-devs.: HUNDREDS! this game is really, really, jaw-droppingly beautiful and stunning if you would take the time to just simply..... admire it!

Depressing moments that *ruined the magic* : thiose fekkin bottomless rocket/grenade boxes! ffs...y'all coulda made me hunt a lil harder for them... not really a complaint or whinge.. just an observation that..... *shit i'm outta rockets*.../me finds box... *cool... I'll just not be so bothered about tactics and aim cos i have an infinite supply right here!*

Best-In-Game-Spoken-*piss_myself*-IMHO: Barney *Hey.. your pressed the button really well... I can see that your education at MIT really pays for itself!* - paraphrased...not exact.

Most annoying MOB (MoveableOBject): those feckerin flying buzz-saws!... someone on some board somewhere said ya cant kill them... GIMP! get yr fekkerin crowbar out MonkeyBoy!!

*BOSS* Difficulty: well, hmmm, working backwards...the endgame was piss-poor...really. It was just TOO EASY! Really. I got it creamed on my second attempt; I have no doubt whatsoever that many of you got it on yr first attempt.
To be brutally honest I thought that maybe there was some more to come...when Alyx sent all *bullet-time* I thought *hehe...this will be like HL1 where I thought I was at (or nearing) endgame on about 2 occasions.
I (personally) found the heli-gunship battle(s) much more challenging than the endgame....that just aint right, imho.

To finish my thoughts... If anyone has read this far (-.o) I will post some thoughts:

Games have come a long way. I (personally) have been gaming since the original PONG. The first game I played *obsessively*(sp?) was Manic Miner n the 16k spectrum, after having programmed my way to boredom on the ZX80 and ZX81 - with RAMpack and kensington programmable joystick inteface).
I recall playin my first proper FPS...by ID? yeppers...you got it! Every day on my dinner break I would sneal to the offices...chat up the secretary and then use her machine 'til the end of dinner break lol.
DOOM... that was ground-breaking.
DOOM2... more of the same but WE NEEEEEEEEDED IT!!!!
I recall the laplink lan parties...maaan we had more downtime than up lol.... still, the beer was flowing and the herbs were a-burnin' (-.o)
Then QUAKE rocked the world.... and QUAKE2... with the awesome power of DMatch and that feckin COOOOL Hook-mod ^^
kinda went quiet until the awesome power of HL1 and TFC / counterstrike took the world in their paws and CRUSHED IT with the power of online action par-excellence!
TFC got an update... graphics got better... hoardes of spotted-llamas were online shootin the shite outta their mates... TFC kept me occupied for a good while... but I never could get *into* CStrike.
Quake3 came along and I yawned.
The Thief series kept me nicely occupied in those dark days... once the quake2 online disease had worn-off... whilst to satisfy my lust for online gaming, I traversed the dark paths of UO, AC, ACDM, AC2, EQand all its siblings, DAOC, Mir, SWG, PS, and finally FFXI (which, by the way is the best of them all imho).
HL2 news came out...I waited...I got bored of waiting...I forgot all about it.
HL2 vids came out...
Then finally HL2! OMG!
Yep...it is ace... it is also a damned shame that TF (teamfortress) did not ship with the game, cos personally I am not *really* into Counterstrike..... but then I played CS:Source...
I was expecting to be slammed and flamed on every serer, being a complet n00b to CS... vut ppl have thus far been very OK and welcoming... and I have found that I am not the only CS virgin.

HL2 rocks.... but not *quite* as much as the last 18months would have us believe.
I love it and NO I could not do better!
*hats off* to the devs at valve and the guys who developed the Havok engine... cos MAN WHEN U GET THAT SPECIAL GUN IN THE CITADEL... ya can really have *fun with fizzix!*

Valve.....c'mon guys...wheres me TEAM FORTRESS!!!
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
/eof

 

[aerasal]

dunno about you, but i haven't been staring at a wall for 6 years waiting for hl2 to be released. i did, however, purchase the game for 50 dollars a few days ago and i feel it was a wise investment.

 

[sHm0zY]

I think it was worth waiting for

 

[poseyjmac]

your systray pokes through when you have shit in there trying to work. thats not hl2s problem.

 

[koopa]

Wow, maybe you need to edit your thoughts a bit

I pretty much agree with what (I think) you're trying to say. HL2 was great. There were some terrific moments. The best FPS of the year for sure. But the AI was pretty standard, there wasn't much variety in the enemies (bizarrely, they saved much of that for the end), and the several level grind with the NPC's at the last was a bit much. In general I felt it probably over used some of the tricks (boat ride, sewers, etc all went on too long for me). 95% is a fair enough score for a game that was great fun, but nothing revolutionary. But only the fanboyz ever thought it would be

 

[nick_t]

man, haven't you learned how to write an essay in english class? if you have a long argument: make a thesis, have body paragraphs with topic sentences, finish off with a concise conclusion, and use proper grammar/spelling. I can't read more than one sentence of what you wrote because it's a nuisance!

 

[Ghost Freeman]

I don't know, is your IQ room temperature? It sure as hell sounds a lot like the ramblings of a CS fanboy to me.

 

[SFLUFAN]

Was that in any form of English that anyone else recognizes?

 

[diluted]

I agree with you on the AI, it is kinda stupid. I mean, when they see one of their comrades get shot in the face with a shotgun when he exits the room, why do the rest of them proceed to follow in single file only to meet the same fate? It's that kind of stuff that irritates me. But the AI is some of the best I've seen, don't get me wrong. It just could have been a lot better.

 

[DarkNyghtOwl]

man, haven't you learned how to write an essay in english class? if you have a long argument: make a thesis, have body paragraphs with topic sentences, finish off with a concise conclusion, and use proper grammar/spelling. I can't read more than one sentence of what you wrote because it's a nuisance!

No.. Correct I did not learn how to write a thesis.. but this is a forum and not an English Language class. English is not my first language, so, you prepare me an essay - in swahili - of comparable quality to my second-tongue and then criticise.
You got bored?
Well, I did not put my thought s down to impress you. Please do not be so harsh

 

[DarkNyghtOwl]

I don't know, is your IQ room temperature? It sure as hell sounds a lot like the ramblings of a CS fanboy to me.

how can I be a CS fanboy when I first started CS yesterday?
Maybe the problem is that you have the attention span of a goldfish ^^

 

[Ghost Freeman]

Yes, I have the attention span of a goldfish...Only when I end up reading some unintelligent babbling of a computer game everyone has discussed to death.

 

[sobergrad]

Well worth waiting for. Not for half life 2, it was worth the wait for all the mods that are going to start pouring out here soon.

 

[red_LED]

HL2 and everything that will follow it (mods) were very worth the wait in my opinion.

 

[iamaelephant]

/bof
First, pls excuse typos...and PLEASE PLEASE do NOT READ THIS if you have an IQ lower than room-temperature. Constructive argument I welcome.... but I will not be baited by comments like *f.u. come on CS an Ill w00p yr a$$ c0z 1 A|\/| a 5p0tty 01k*

And after saying this, you go on to spout the biggest pot of bullshit, written in possibly the worst example of English I have ever come across on these forums? You are one condescending little asswipe. I also love how the guy who has been with this forum for less than two weeks and has a grand total of 4 posts can tell Ghost Freeman, a long time forum member, he has a short attention span. Morons like you are the reason internet forums suck.

Also, thanks for the spoiler warning asshole. Not every has finished the game yet.

 

[Jesus Lincoln]

Was it really worth the wait?

Yes




456

 

[nick_t]

No.. Correct I did not learn how to write a thesis.. but this is a forum and not an English Language class. English is not my first language, so, you prepare me an essay - in swahili - of comparable quality to my second-tongue and then criticise.
You got bored?
Well, I did not put my thought s down to impress you. Please do not be so harsh

I think that if your argument was more orginized, more people would be inclined to read it. This has nothing to do with your level of english or native language - the structure of an essay is universal. This has nothing to do with impreesing me either. I was really interested in reading what you had to say but when I say your long random post, I was really turned-off. Sorry if I was too harsh.

 

[Dekstar]

I liked it personally. I haven't actually finished the game but I knew what was in it anyway, and yeah, it could have done with a bit of a spoiler warning.

It's good how you gave lots of little scores of everything you knew about, like A.I. and stuff - It's good to see what other people think.

And you didn't find any part scary?

Spoiler

Not even ravenholm with the giant poison-headcrab-throwing-zombies? Or the fast zombies?

You must be very used to being scared.

Again, nice post. good to see what other people thought of it.

 

[acrh2]

And after saying this, you go on to spout the biggest pot of bullshit, written in possibly the worst example of English I have ever come across on these forums? You are one condescending little asswipe. I also love how the guy who has been with this forum for less than two weeks and has a grand total of 4 posts can tell Ghost Freeman, a long time forum member, he has a short attention span. Morons like you are the reason internet forums suck.

Also, thanks for the spoiler warning asshole. Not every has finished the game yet.

Point #1: Everyone is entitled to his opinion. I happen to share mine with that of the thread starter. This game is definitely not as good as it was hyped to be. Doom3 wasn't, and before that, Farcry wasn't either. That doesn't mean that the game isn't good. It was really excellent. But here's the punchline of this point I'm trying to make. Most of you badmouthing little freaks are 13 yo on average. The reason why you can't take any feedback aside from an absolute asskissing is because you haven't seen JACKSHIT. Your expectations and standards are very low. And the reason why you don't realize that is because of that huge hormone kick into the brain due to going through puberty. Makes you dumb.

Point #2: The number of posts does not guarantee being credible. In fact, look at your own: you've been posting something like 6 posts per day *on average* for a year. You are either getting paid to do so, or you live here. And it would be very sad if you lived here. That is definitely not credible to me: I would seriously have to question your mental health.
Your favorite butt buddy Ghost Freeman came off like a jackass with no provocation.

 

[DuB]

I never played HalfLife before I played HalfLife 2 - so I did'nt really know what to expect. But this game was so defenately worth the wait. I have'nt played a more enjoyable SP game... well ever.

From the type of puzzles (especially the ones that make use of the physics engine) to the awesome graphics and emersive settings, I'm loving it. (still have'nt finnished it yet)

I'm glad I bought this game. Had a bunch of parts that had me open mouthed in awe, which I can't say many games have done in the recent past (and I bought Doom3 *yuk* and FarCry).

Great game overall, until now. If I finnish it soon, and don't like the ending - I'll let you guys know.

 

[iamaelephant]

Point #1: Everyone is entitled to his opinion. I happen to share mine with that of the thread starter. This game is definitely not as good as it was hyped to be. Doom3 wasn't, and before that, Farcry wasn't either. That doesn't mean that the game isn't good. It was really excellent. But here's the punchline of this point I'm trying to make. Most of you badmouthing little freaks are 13 yo on average. The reason why you can't take any feedback aside from an absolute asskissing is because you haven't seen JACKSHIT. Your expectations and standards are very low. And the reason why you don't realize that is because of that huge hormone kick into the brain due to going through puberty. Makes you dumb.

Not that it's any of your business, but I'm 19 years old, and if you had been on this forum for more than a couple of weeks you'd know that the last thing I want to do is kiss Valve's ass. I dispise Valve, I hate Steam and I think that Valve have extremely shoddy business pactises which they cover up by taking fans for tours and giving us shitty little puzzles to solve while we wait for a game that was delayed time and time again. But that's not the issue here. My expectations and standards are not low, they are realistic. I really enjoyed Far Cry and Doom 3 because I didn't hold unrealistically high expectations for them. Don't give me that puberty bullshit you little turd, and don't ever call me dumb.

Point #2: The number of posts does not guarantee being credible. In fact, look at your own: you've been posting something like 6 posts per day *on average* for a year. You are either getting paid to do so, or you live here. And it would be very sad if you lived here. That is definitely not credible to me: I would seriously have to question your mental health.
Your favorite butt buddy Ghost Freeman came off like a jackass with no provocation.

I never said anything about post count relating to credibility. I'm saying that this asshole has been on this forum for 2 weeks, unlike people like Ghost Freeman and myself, who have been dedicated followers of this game for well over a year, and we don't appreciate being told we have a low attention span by some asshole who just got here. You think 6 posts a day means I "live" here? Please.

 

[Ownzed]

I think it was well worth the wait!

 

[Adrien C]

I havn't played it yet, but it seems people were desapointed, finishing a game in a day.... comon... 7 years on the making.

I also didn't like that valve lied, their "secret" mp, and all the things they promised...

 

[Eternity]

The game is amazing.

 

[koopa]

I never said anything about post count relating to credibility. I'm saying that this asshole has been on this forum for 2 weeks, unlike people like Ghost Freeman and myself

Time spent on forums has nothing to do with credibility.

who have been dedicated followers of this game for well over a year, and we don't appreciate being told we have a low attention span by some asshole who just got here. You think 6 posts a day means I "live" here? Please.

Let's try this again:Time spent on forums has nothing to do with credibility. You keep bringing this up as if it's somehow important, but trust me when I say no one gives a damn except you.

I don't get the hate on this. The original post was polite, if a little sprawling. But that's okay, because you'd guess his native language is maybe Chinese - and your Chinese is non-existant, right? Anyway, did you want to answer any of his points, or just foam at the mouth like a rabid dog?

 

[SubKamran]

I am sort of perturbed that the AI wasn't as jaw-dropping as what Valve claimed it would be. But I'm having a hard time nonetheless on Medium and it's exactly my skill level so I am happy.

Was it worth the wait? I think I was expecting a tad bit more, but it's the details that I *love* about HL2... the tiny things that add to the game.

I think it was worth it... it really is an awesome game, I haven't had so much since forever.

Also, is it just me or is there a lack of hilarious scripted sequences? AKA in HL1 the scientist deaths were the most memorable parts of the game. So far, in HL2, the most memorable parts are the 1337 physics kills.

 

[koopa]

Also, is it just me or is there a lack of hilarious scripted sequences? AKA in HL1 the scientist deaths were the most memorable parts of the game. So far, in HL2, the most memorable parts are the 1337 physics kills.

Good point, I feel like they removed a lot of the more obviously scripted stuff (see traptown E3). The only funnies were

Spoiler

the great scenes with dog, especially when he gets crushed by the tank and throws it

.

 

[iamaelephant]

Time spent on forums has nothing to do with credibility.


Let's try this again:Time spent on forums has nothing to do with credibility. You keep bringing this up as if it's somehow important, but trust me when I say no one gives a damn except you.

I don't get the hate on this. The original post was polite, if a little sprawling. But that's okay, because you'd guess his native language is maybe Chinese - and your Chinese is non-existant, right? Anyway, did you want to answer any of his points, or just foam at the mouth like a rabid dog?

Are you f*cking dense? Where did I ever say that post count or time spent on forums relates to credibility? I didn't. I'm saying that Ghost Freeman obviously doesn't have such a short attention span, considering he has been following this game for well over a year. I'm leaving this forum for good. There are a few intelligent people here, but the rest of you are complete f*cking morons.

 

[Asuka]

Wow i cant stand threads and people like this. Everyone should die.

 

[koopa]

Are you f*cking dense? Where did I ever say that post count or time spent on forums relates to credibility? I didn't.

I think it was the part where you kept waving the fact around that he'd been here two weeks and you've been here 400 years like it meant something. Or it may have been the bit where you mentioned he'd only got 4 posts and GhostFreeman was a long time forum member. But if it didn't relate to credibility, why on earth were you bringing it up?

I'm leaving this forum for good. There are a few intelligent people here, but the rest of you are complete f*cking morons.

My point is you were a bit harsh on the guy, and I think you took something a bit personally when he didn't mean it that way. As a regular poster, I'm sure you would be missed if you left.