Half Life 2: Episode 2

[Erkki]

Just finished it the second time, this time with Developer commentary on. I wholly agree with this being one of the best Half-Life experiences yet! The last battle was especially awesome the first time, when it felt really overwhelming and I hadn't learned all the tricks yet.

I carried the Gnome all the way from the beginning to the rocket, it was quite annoying as it kept falling out of the car often, but didn't get the achievement... could it be a bug or perhaps the achievements don't work with dev commentary on?

[Nachimir]

Annoyingly, you have to turn dev commentary off. IIRC, if you do it just before you put the gnome in, that should bag you the achievement, so maybe you can do it from a savegame rather than having to start again...

[BigJKO]

I don't know, that sounds kind of fair. Having to turn them off, that is. When a commentary is playing you're invulnerable, which makes the whole gnome thing a tiny bit easier, maybe.

[Erkki]

oh man, I guess that means I'll have to play yet again (probably sometime later) because I just remembered I was also going for the grub smashing and other similar achievements...

[Nachimir]

Just turning commentary off before you get to the rocket should do it

[sphaloman]

anybody else beat the game?

[Erkki]

There's one thing I wish would have been different after reading the Developer Commentary: I wish the physics puzzles weren't "dumbed down" so much. You can hear in some of the commentaries that some puzzles were initially more difficult, but were simplified based on feedback from playtesters. I don't mean "dumbed down" in a strictly bad way, but the adventure gamer in me wishes for more challenging puzzles in Half-Life games (and to a lesser extent, I'd say the same about Portal). But I guess what I really want is an adventure game done with the source engine (or another similar level) technology, not half-life itself to become an adventure game.

I'm actually surprised that no source engine games / mods have tried to create more physics puzzle based games by now. Maybe Portal will change this and more games like that will start getting made?

[LOPcagney]

There's one thing I wish would have been different after reading the Developer Commentary: I wish the physics puzzles weren't "dumbed down" so much. You can hear in some of the commentaries that some puzzles were initially more difficult, but were simplified based on feedback from playtesters. I don't mean "dumbed down" in a strictly bad way, but the adventure gamer in me wishes for more challenging puzzles in Half-Life games (and to a lesser extent, I'd say the same about Portal). But I guess what I really want is an adventure game done with the source engine (or another similar level) technology, not half-life itself to become an adventure game.

I'm actually surprised that no source engine games / mods have tried to create more physics puzzle based games by now. Maybe Portal will change this and more games like that will start getting made?

Yeah I have to agree. As much as I loved Portal, I felt that by the end it wasn't really pushing the creative envelope in terms of the kinds of maneuvers you had to pull off. The trailer made it look like there would be extensive segments where you had to change portals in midair etc. I'm sure this will be fixed with user-created content though. I've already seen a

of beta levels that look like they're really trying to push the portal mechanic to the limit.

[Nachimir]

Valve have just put the stats for this online:

http://steamgames.com/status/ep2/ep2_stats.php

There's a tab for the achievements too, just like in the personal stats on Steam.

Around 1 percent did the gnome thing, and only 0.4 obsessive enough to squash all the grubs

Particularly interesting are the heatmaps showing where people died the most. Like the big red blob on this one where, it appears, lots of people didn't make the bridge jump:

http://steamgames.com/status/ep2/death_maps/ep2_outland_06_deaths.jpg

[Cigol]

...that's so cool. I died there several times as it happens - just driving the car and whoompf right into the bottom of the river. I think I did it about 3 or 4 times before deciding on a different avenue of approach (so I probably account for much of that death radius )

[elmuerte]

yep... valve keeps track of every little thing you do, I'm sure they even have stats of the number of minutes/hours people have been staring at Alyx' boobs.

[toblix]

I'm amazed more people died jumping the bridge than during the massacrefest in the holey shack below.

[Tommy Gun]

Regarding the gnome achievement, I wrote a little guide for it, so it's not as painful (where you can leave the gnome, etc.).

[werd123]

*Raises Hand* I've Finished it. Now let me get a few things out of the way, despite this being really enjoyable and being better then Episode One, like this is my GOTY.

I didn't really enjoy the Final Battle as much as I thought, I just stopped playing before the big ending without knowing, I was having a conversation with my friend and told him about it, then he hit me the bombshell that it was the "Final Battle". It didn't felt like the Final Battle, I don't know but there wasn't much of a build up of the battle, the atmosphere would usually change telling you that something is big around the corner.

And though at first "WTF?" about the ending all of a sudden happening after the final battle, but then I thought that without the ending just..popping out of nowhere that it wouldn't have as much impact.

[LOPcagney]

I liked the pacing of the last sequence.

They introduce you to the strider-killing mechanic slowly, building towards the part where it all goes haywire and 3 striders attack at once and the music kicks in...

And the "!!!" of the ending-ending was perfect(ly acted).

[DanJW]

Yeah it's nice and challenging and probably the most open-ended battle they have designed so far. You can approach it in several different ways. Plus some nice special effects when the builsings get destroyed.

[werd123]

Definately!!! This whole Physics system is what makes it stand out as "just" a game running off a engine that is 3-4 years old. It's so unique, I don't why this is a "next-gen" feature more common in games. But when you back, some games are still trying to perfect physics when it comes to falling bodies.

[LOPcagney]

With all this GOTY buzz this time of the year, I don't think I've heard Episode 2 mentioned once. I guess it's not viewed on the same level as other brand new, truly next-gen games, but if the idea is to look at games based on design, playability, and overall enjoyment, I don't know why Ep. 2 is any less qualified than any other artistic, fun single-player game (like, for example, Bioshock).

[BigJKO]

I've heard a lot of GOTY buzz surrounding Portal and TF2, so I doubt it's because HL2:Ep2 isn't "next-gen".

[LOPcagney]

I've heard a lot of GOTY buzz surrounding Portal and TF2, so I doubt it's because HL2:Ep2 isn't "next-gen".

Yeah, I think it doesn't get it's fair share of publicity because it's "episodic" as opposed to being either a full-on sequel or an original title.

[toblix]

Yeah, I think it doesn't get it's fair share of publicity because it's "episodic" as opposed to being either a full-on sequel or an original title.

And yet there's more quality in a single HL2: Episode 2 firefight, puzzle or scripted sequence than in most "full" games.

[LOPcagney]

And yet there's more quality in a single HL2: Episode 2 firefight, puzzle or scripted sequence than in most "full" games.

Exactly! It's unfair.

I was also thinking about whether or not it's legitimate to nominate "The Orange Box" for GOTY. I've seen some publications treat it as a single game.

[LOPcagney]

They're each individual games, although I could be wrong, but isn't there some special way to play directly from the last chapter of each game into the first chapter of it's sequel? Either way, you need to download all three.

[toblix]

isn't there some special way to play directly from the last chapter of each game into the first chapter of it's sequel?

If there is, I never heard of it.

[DanJW]

To my surprise, when I finished replaying Episode 1 after downloading Episode 2, the Ep 1 automatically shut down and Ep 2 started up.

But yes, the names can be confusing. Half Life 2 is the full length game. The Episodes form a shorter troilogy which continues the story.