ysbreker

Half-life 2 - episode one

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Wow.

If this is what I can expect from episodic content by valve I'm gonna be one happy camper!

I just finished episode one in just over 3 hours and it was one cool ride! They keep up the excelent level of quality you got with hl2. Add to that more on the story from the Halflife world and some new baddies to blast and you got a great new episode in the halflife universe. Too bad you don't get to know anything new about the G-man. But you do get to follow alyx around trying to escape from city 17. I can't wait till the next episode!

They also added the directors commentary like they did in lost coast. So I'm gonna play again real soon just to listen to the commentary.

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Remember to watch the episode two teaser that is unlocked when you finish the game. Cliffhangers ahoy!

I'll replay episode one tomorrow with the commentary, most likely. Really great game, with everything I wanted (more HL2 content). Probably the most stunning scenes I've ever witnessed, mostly thanks to some great uses of shaders and fantastic art direction yet again.

I hope they release another book in the vein of Raising the Bar, when all three episodes are done.

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what new enemies are there

i don't care if you spoil anything for me, just whisper it with the white-text-on-white-background

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I must be a slow FPS player. I don't really understand how people are clocking in these playtimes of 3 hours. I think I came in at more like 5 hours and I don't get how I could really play it faster.

What a great game though. I'm not sure I'm in the mood to dissect it yet, but anyone on the fence should definitely buy it. Does not disappoint, well worth the measly change I paid for it.

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Can't wait now.

I've been waiting since HL²'s release to play it, bought it that day in 2004. It doesn't work because of a bloody ram issue. I should be able to play this game and all the add-ons on my next PC, this year hopefully. At least before an HL3 comes out.

I've played the first through and through, I'm glad to see some solo content is still being released now.

I couldn't resist watching a few minutes of a game run done with HL², and the beginning in the city where you just witness events looked amazingly detailed to me.

Waiting to read some of your opinions about it to do the purchase guys ! :)

Oh blast, I think I'll try another reinstall right now.:bomb:

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God. Damn. Incredible. I couldn't restrain myself. I've had kind of a shit day so I decided that I should take a break and try out (What I'm still going to call) Aftermath. Holy fuck. First off, the entry to the citadel is incredible. I've played about 2 and a bit hours now and am just a little ways into Chapter 4 (of 5. Saddened by how quickly this will end...) Sin was fun and all, but this should have come out sooner. If you're going to be the first Episodic game, it may as well be the best one. Shorter than Sin, but a much MUCH richer experience. (Not that Sin was bad, it just wasn't HL2)

My problems are twofold right now, and both technical. First off, this took way too long to get running. When I bought Sin it had already been released, so I just downloaded it and started playing. Took a while to download, but after that there was no delay. Aftermath, I preordered. And pre-loaded. The whole thing was sitting on my computer waiting to be played as soon as they unlocked it. Why unlocking took almost an hour, I have no idea. All the files were there, so what was the damn hold-up?

The other problem is that every once in a while, despite running really well and at a crisp frame-rate the rest of the time, the game REALLY starts to chug. We're talking frozen image and stuttering sound for about 5 minutes. I press escape and trust that it'll register, then go get a drink or something. When I come back, I'll find it on the pause screen and it'll be running fine again. These stutters are seemingly at random. I'll be walking through a hallway with not an enemy in sight and suddenly she starts to go haywire on me. This, even when I can have hordes of enemies rushing at me on-screen with fires and water effects going full blast without a hiccough at other points in the game. Seems kinda dumb. On the plus side, these problems are few and far between. I think I've encountered about 3 in 2+ hours. 3 too many though. It does start to get frustrating.

Erik, if you've seen the intro for HL2 and liked it, I believe that this one is better. Doesn't last as long or draw you in quite as much, but as it picks up the second that HL2 ends, you don't need to be drawn in again. You're already there. Exciting, kinda funny, and really quite beautiful in some parts. Anyway, get it. I've blabbed enough.

EDIT (For LOPcagney):

So far, the most used new enemy is a new kind of headcrab zombie. It's a zombified combine trooper that has access to grenades and runs at you like a gorrilla when in spots you. Not a bad enemy at all. Also, you now have to kill some of those Stalker things from the end of HL2. The creepy enslaved guys who run the combine's machinery. There's a particularly awesome setpiece towards the end of the second chapter involving them that I don't want to ruin for you. Oh yeah, even though it's not so much an enemy, one feature I enjoy is that those little homing land mine things that you had to hurl around with the Gravity gun on Highway 17 can now be reprogrammed to go after your enemies. Very fun to watch 'em go at it.

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So far, the most used new enemy is a new kind of headcrab zombie. It's a zombified combine trooper that has access to grenades and runs at you like a gorrilla when in spots you.

Dude, Zombine. :yep:

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I was very tempted to shoot Alyx in the face when she made that joke. I guess that makes it a good pun...

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I've played about 2 and a bit hours now and am just a little ways into Chapter 4 (of 5. Saddened by how quickly this will end...) Sin was fun and all, but this should have come out sooner. If you're going to be the first Episodic game, it may as well be the best one. Shorter than Sin, but a much MUCH richer experience. (Not that Sin was bad, it just wasn't HL2)

If you're getting through the game that quickly, maybe you should consider the scenic route? I like just looking around after I clear some areas, viewing the small details that Valve place everywhere. I think it took me about 4½ hours on normal because of this. Also dying a few times helps.

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Oh, I'm definitely taking my time and looking around. I particularly enjoyed watching Dr. Kleiner's speech after first emerging onto the streets. On that note:

he says something that suggests that the combine have been there for about 10 years now. I'm still trying to figure out how long Gordon was out after the first game, and this (aside from Alyx, of course) is my first real clue. I don't know why this makes me happy, but it does.

And a few puzzles are taking me a while to work through. I'm just not having all that much difficulty blazing through the game. On the other hand, I won't have much of a chance to pick up chapter 4 again until at least Sunday, so I won't be done TOO soon.

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Re: Miffy's spoiler

The first real clue about how long ago the occupation began (/how long Gordon is in stasis) is given in Eli's lab in HL2 though. There's a picture of Alyx as a baby on his shelf that he refers to as one of the things he managed to pull out of Black Mesa, iirc. And in HL2, she's what, 20 years old?

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Dude, Zombine. :yep:

Sounds like some sort of large harvester for the undead.

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Damn it... I just bought the complete Valve Pack or what it was a few days ago, but I'm out of disk space to download Episode 1 :gaming:

Damn.... cleaned up the disk, but the Steam Servers are too busy... it was the same when I tried two days ago.

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EDIT (For LOPcagney):

So far, the most used new enemy is a new kind of headcrab zombie. It's a zombified combine trooper that has access to grenades and runs at you like a gorrilla when in spots you. Not a bad enemy at all. Also, you now have to kill some of those Stalker things from the end of HL2. The creepy enslaved guys who run the combine's machinery. There's a particularly awesome setpiece towards the end of the second chapter involving them that I don't want to ruin for you. Oh yeah, even though it's not so much an enemy, one feature I enjoy is that those little homing land mine things that you had to hurl around with the Gravity gun on Highway 17 can now be reprogrammed to go after your enemies. Very fun to watch 'em go at it.

Thanks Miffy. I'm really psyched to play this game. Maybe I'll get it this weekend...

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EDIT (For LOPcagney):

So far, the most used new enemy is a new kind of headcrab zombie. It's a zombified combine trooper that has access to grenades and runs at you like a gorrilla when in spots you. Not a bad enemy at all. Also, you now have to kill some of those Stalker things from the end of HL2. The creepy enslaved guys who run the combine's machinery. There's a particularly awesome setpiece towards the end of the second chapter involving them that I don't want to ruin for you. Oh yeah, even though it's not so much an enemy, one feature I enjoy is that those little homing land mine things that you had to hurl around with the Gravity gun on Highway 17 can now be reprogrammed to go after your enemies. Very fun to watch 'em go at it.

Thanks Miffy. I'm really psyched to play this game. Maybe I'll get it this weekend...

I wasn't expecting anything except the stalkers and those new combine synths you see at the end of the first game, but the zombine sound awesome. I'm a sucker for new content. :grin:

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It took me 6 hours on easy so that shows you what a terrible FPS gamer I am.

Actually, I got stuck a couple times trying to figure out how to solve certain puzzles. It took me forever to figure out that you have to move the cars over the antlion bunkers. It also took me awhile to figure out how to power up the 3rd generator in the core.

I was pretty pleased with it. I think the value for $20 was good (compared to say, the first Bone game although that's a totally different experience). The only thing I was disappointed in was that it was more of the same of HL2. The environments didn't really change that much so it seemed like a HL2 single-player mod (albeit a really good one). That's minor complaint though and it looks to be addressed by Episode 2 from the looks of the preview.

Any speculation as to what was going on with the G-man and the Vortigaunts at the beginning? I thought previously that it would be necessary at some point in the storyline to liberate Gordan Freeman from the G-man and it was interesting to see how they did it (although I expect the G-man will regain control at some point).

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One hour in.

Most awesome moment so far? What Alyx does when you're standing in complete darkness. :tup:

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What Alyx does when you're standing in complete darkness. :tup:

:innocent:

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One hour in.

Most awesome moment so far? What Alyx does when you're standing in complete darkness. :tup:

Yeah, that was a really damn nice touch. There was a brief moment of "What the fuck? Is that a human?" and then she starts laughing at you. Oh, and those damned black headcrabs still have the ability to scare the living shit out of me.

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Wow, that was a nice tight package. I didn't even notice that time flew by. It's now 3AM and I just had to finish Episode 1.

I like how they made Alyx joke around many times during the game. :)

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Wow I'm enjoying HL2ep1 far more than I was expecting (just finished chapter 2). Alyx being there really changes the mood of the game, and the game opening in a crazy flaming alien military base was really different atmospherically from anything else in the Half Life games (including the end of HL2), but it's all holding together really well. It feels different but still like a very believable and solid continuation of what came before. :tup:

Also super gravity gun is best :tup: :tup: :tup:

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