Tech Star Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 lol....do you nead to know what happens in Half-Life one and 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOC Veteran Posted June 2, 2006 Veteran Share Posted June 2, 2006 Really, 3 episodes and that's it? Why not just release Half-Life 3? Mainly because Valve is taking a chance with Episodic Gaming here. However, Half-life 3 may be a full release game, or it may be episodic like these 3 "mini expansions" are. We don't know yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 wow, just finished it, and wow. ep2 looks GREAT too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOC Veteran Posted June 2, 2006 Veteran Share Posted June 2, 2006 (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 man, I wish someone could explain this more :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayepecks Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Mainly because Valve is taking a chance with Episodic Gaming here. However, Half-life 3 may be a full release game, or it may be episodic like these 3 "mini expansions" are. We don't know yet. I believe Valve's already implied in interviews that these episodes are taking the place of a Half-Life 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soham Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 The episode was awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagjohn Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Sweet. Just finished. Can't wait to play it again and look around more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurmoth Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I believe Valve's already implied in interviews that these episodes are taking the place of a Half-Life 3. Yes and no. FiringSquad: How is creating a game that is designed to be played in a short amount of time different than creating a game that is designed to be played in 12 hours or more?Doug Lombardi: During the development of Half-Life 2, which spanned almost six years and over $30 million, we all agreed that we needed to find a way to get games to our community faster than every 5 or 6 years. With the success of Steam and the lessons we learned by constantly developing our multiplayer games, it seemed natural that we could take the same approach with single player projects. Before Half-Life 2 was released, the decision was made to deliver the next installment of this story in episodic form instead of heading off for six years to build Half-Life 3. So instead we will begin delivering the follow up just 18 months after Half-Life 2, and conclude with the third episode in a much more timely fashion. ...Read more That states that Valve decided to take Half-Life 3 and split it into smaller chunks so they could get it out to us faster, and also charge us more (he didn't actually say that, but do the math). Anyway, that doesn't mean that when they finish release the Half-Life 2 episodes, they won't come out with Half-Life 3: Episode One. Personally if this was meant to be three, they should have named it Half-Life 3: Episode One to begin with. But at any rate, I think we will get a third, or fourth rather, installment that will be called Half-Life 3. But that's my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I'm going to play the game again with commentary on. I have also already extracted the soundtrack and am listening to it right now :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundayx Veteran Posted June 2, 2006 Veteran Share Posted June 2, 2006 i guess valve wants not only to push the game out to us faster, but to keep the half life 2 name under the same engine used and leave half life 3 for probably the next gen engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANova Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I've very conflicted. On one hand it was fantastic, better than HL2 imo, but on the other hand HL2 was a little short as it was, now we're paying more for almost 8 or so less hours. These episodes are too expensive for the playtime. I don't like the fact that I'm going to have to wait until November or December for Episode 2 and December of next year for Episode 3 either. Bleh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illicit Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Sweet. Just finished. Can't wait to play it again and look around more. Same here. It was pretty awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 oh, and for those wondering... alyx wears purple underwear :p. what I don't understand is why valve put that there.... hummm :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyLarry Veteran Posted June 2, 2006 Author Veteran Share Posted June 2, 2006 I'm going to play the game again with commentary on. I have also already extracted the soundtrack and am listening to it right now :D Definitely interested in how you go about extracting the soundtrack? Any info you can provide is appreciated. Although it was my full intention to beat the game today, of course I barely go to play today. In fact am still only on Chapter One. With that said, so far I do think everything is brillaint. Valve just truly knows how to make an immersive experience. Believe it or not, I do have one tiny thing I am not fully convinced about. And that is I could have personally done without Alyx as my sideckick. I do not hate it by any means, I can live with it, but I have never been a fan of having an NPC partner, pretty much never. Even if they are one of the better ones out there one could have. No matter what, at the end of the day, they still can, and they always will, at one point get in the way. Even the parts when it is more or less a fully scripted sequence you take part of, such as the entire beginning with dog, , they way they go about it all and pay such attention to detail is just truly enjoyable and in my opinion truly hits the nail right on the head. Valve just knows their stuff, no questions about it. So since my day got screwed, I am off to play it for about 45 minutes to an hour or so now then go to bed. I anticipate I will beat it at some point tomorrow night, as the gf is out for the night so I have to take advantage of that oh so precious alone time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chavo Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Man too bad I'm jobless and broke right now. Hmmm I got a coffee jar full of change here. Oh well, gonna play through HL2 again and hopefully get a job this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Definitely interested in how you go about extracting the soundtrack? Any info you can provide is appreciated. Well, you need GCF Scape of course... then just open episode 1 shared.gcf in SteamApps (make sure steam is closed). then navagiate to episodic > sounds > music, then drag them all to you destop and presto. This also works for the music is hl2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyLarry Veteran Posted June 2, 2006 Author Veteran Share Posted June 2, 2006 Well, you need GCF Scape of course... then just open episode 1 shared.gcf in SteamApps (make sure steam is closed). then navagiate to episodic > sounds > music, then drag them all to you destop and presto. This also works for the music is hl2... Thanks for the fast reply. (Y) Sounds easy enough no doubt. Just curious is GCF Scape freeware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent_9000 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 yes it is, just do a quick google search and you'll be on your way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaidiir Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 damn I'm so behind. 84%, downloading at 223.6 KB/s. :wacko: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue` Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Just finished it on hard, will play through again in a bit and listen to the commentary....zombine were cool :p I liked the way Alyx kicked ass (literally)...just wished it would of been a bit harder and a bit longer, and maybe even answered allot more questions than what it did.... Oh well....whens Ep2 coming out? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chugworth Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Well I completed Half Life 2: Episode One in just about one sitting. It started out really great... for about the first five minutes. After that, the game was really annoying and no fun at all. I despise games that send unlimited enemies at you, and this game has room after room of them. Half Life 2 had some pretty cool physics puzzles, but Episode One's physics puzzles were more annoying than anything else. Having Alyx with you throughout the game really didn't give much of a positive effect on the gameplay. She would shoot at enemies with you, or make a poor attempt at holding off unlimited enemies while you try to figure out how to progress. The continuation of the story was crap. Basically, the combine tower is going to blow up and everyone has to get away. Oops! That was probably a major spoiler, because not much else was revealed. That one sentence sums up the whole game. The "ending" (or at least the point where the game stops), is similar to the way Half Life 2 ends. And then you get some previews for Episode Two. The graphics aren't that impressive to me either. The rooms and areas just seem kind of blocky. I'm also trying to understand the benefit of this HDR lighting. When everything on the screen looks washed out due to bright lighting, is that really good graphics? Episode One also seems to have learned a thing or two from Doom 3: Have lots of rooms that are completely dark except for what you're shining your flashlight on, and call it "great graphics." The special effects in this game basically look like special effects. Not bad, but whatever. Many of the sound effects are very loud, and if you turn down the volume it makes it harder to hear what the characters are saying. The few music tracks are about as memorable as the ones in Half Life 2 (not memorable at all). So here is my score: Graphics: 8/10 Gameplay: 6/10 Sound/Music: 7/10 Story: 4/10 Overall: 6/10 For me this game was a MAJOR disappointment. And that's too bad, because I loved Half-Life 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Wang Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I don't know if some of the disappointed people are jaded or just play too many games but that was incredible, Valve keep impressing me with everything they release. Alyx wasn't annoying and seemed humanistic, the facial animations were scarily accurate and the use of HDR with gameplay was excellent, e.g looking up with rocket launcher to hit flying things or striders but sun making it difficult for a few seconds. Most of all though though the game was inventive and fun, each scenario felt like a film but with you controlling, something I know Valve wanted to achieve and I think they succeeded. Anyone notice in the Episode 2 trailer the forest environments graphics looks really good? I hope they intend on updating some textures and models every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaLiVa Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 oh, and for those wondering... alyx wears purple underwear :p. what I don't understand is why valve put that there.... hummm :laugh: Only found out now? Kinda sad...~ She's had that thong since Half Life 2's release... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FWM Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Can anyone tell me how HL2 ended? I never got around to finish it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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