Halflife 2

[Chroelle]

Well it had to come at some point. I started playing Halflife 2 a while ago and I got a good way into the game.

So far I can only join the masses that speak highly of this gem. I already invested in Episode 1 and hope to be done with HL2 within the next two weeks (remember I dont have a lot of time for gambling). I am guessing there is 3 more hours of gameplay left .

The game is rather linear as Halflife is supposed to be, and I dont blame it. With its linearity comes some great plot actions. The game can plan good choks and great visuals for you when it knows where you are coming from. I haven't gotten stuck yet, and that is simply because the game is so well balanced.

Gordon Freeman is generally a great character to play, and I wonder why emphasis has been placed on his female sidekick on the cover of Episode 0ne? The great feeling comes with people recognising you on the street in the game, and turn to you and say stuff like "Gordon Freeman - what an honour." As the survivor of Black Mesa there is quite a few stories about you and they are of course all true if you played Halflife 1.

I was going into this game with caution, since I always seem to be a bit disappointed by the hype around a game. GTA3 - San Andreas was one of them, and I can mention quite a few more. I am not saying that the games are bad, simply that they were not what I thought they would be, because of the hype.

Have you had your run in with the combines and manhacks yet? How about antlions (which I pronounced antlions, as in antlers not as in ANT-LIONS, as in a combination of two animals, for quite some time.)
Which is your favourite foe (animal or otherwise), chapter, weapon so far?

I have to go with zombies as a foe, Ravenholm chapter, throwing saws with the gravitational weapon. I simply love this game so far. I am hoping they will keep the game-episodes coming because they have to work hard to go wrong with this kind of gameplay.

I have to throw into the rant here that I am normally not that much of a FPS fan!

[Pager]

I had bought HL2 when it first came out, got the Special Edition that came with the "free" T-Shirt. I thought it was a fantastic game when I first started playing, but shortly after the game began to crash at the weirdest of places. So I adjusted every setting the game came with in order to attempt to get past those points. It would get me further, but then crash again (the worst was the air boat level, awesome level, though).

Then I got to a certain point and the game just kept on crashing, but the game wouldn't just crash the computer would completely freeze, there was nothing I could do, all the settings were on low. So then came the upgrades. Never before had I been so determined to upgrade my computer so I could finish HL2.

So I doubled the RAM from 512 to 1Gb, that didn't help, I increased the size of power supply in my computer from 400W to 500W, I completely filled every single cooling fan slot, I even changed the processor from a 2700+ AMD XP Thoroughbred to 3000+ AMD XP Barton, then the video card from Radeon 9200 128 to a GeForce 5500 256.

That seemed to do the trick.

I haven't really played HL2 since beating it, I think the most challenging part of the game was trying to get my computer to run it without crashing.

But I did tinker a bit with the Hammer SDK for a while, I was planning to make a mod out of it, sort of like a zombie infested town thing, but I once again got so far before it would no longer compile. And frankly no longer had enough patience with HL2 to figure out why.

I have a feeling if I wasn't so annoyed with the compatibility issues I had with the game it would have surely been better, and I'd probably still want to play it. But as of right now, the CD sits on my shelf collecting dust and Steam (don't even get me started with Steam ) sits on my computer chewing up bandwidth.

@C, there is another expansion coming out, for sure on xbox 360, called Orange or something like that...it should be coming out for PC as well, since that seems to be the trend with Microsoft.

[Chroelle]

I know there is an expansion coming up for PC called Lost Coast. I dont know anything about it though.
Steam is a bit hard to not be a bit annoyed with, as it also sits on my HD eating bandwidth. And the annoying pop-up with news from Steam every time I close down HL is also just a bit annoying. I do however like the way it works as copy-protection. I cant help but wonder if anyone broke the protection yet. It seems like they did a good job covering the bases.

This was of course not to tempt anyone to try!

I am looking forward to seeing the end of HL2 and I hope to be done with it in the next weeks time. I must say that it is truelly in a league of its own when it comes to this type of game.

[Scythe]

I hate Steam. I hate Halflife. I'm such a rebel.

[Chroelle]

Well I finally got through Halflife and I must say that the ending had me stunned. What a cliffhanger ending. I suddenly saw the reason there was an Episode 1 and now also a two out.
I was actually planning on starting a game of Anno 1503 after all this shooting and being Gordon Freeman, but the ending had my eyes turn instantaniously to Episode 1, trying to convince myself that I SIMPLY HAD TO PLAY IT NOW. And I turned it up and started playing the next morning (yesterday) and after having played some great levels and some not so great levels in the game I had to go, but I simply had to see how much of the game was left. So I turned into Steam Stats and was told that the average games completed this game in 4 hours... I am already 2/3 through the game (regarding chapters) and almost through regarding time. The first chapters are the longest ones. Ok, so I have to get a hold on Episode 2, since it seems that Episode 1 leaves you with little closure, and yert another cliffhanger ending.
I dont mind clioffhanger endings - au contraire.
I love the fact that the game creates an atmosphere that leaves me wanting...no - NEEDING... to play the expansion and now is too late.
I love the Halflife games, I must say, as they pit me against good puzzles, and violent resistance. The difficulty suits me perfectly, and the graphics is always cutting edge... (The citadel - OMG)!

Episode one is a bit less interesting and linear, so I haven't been tingling quite as much. I must say that when you get into the parking-house things gets a bit hairy and frightening. It is no Ravenholm, but still a good scare.
No lioght but your flashlight and zombies running at you from all over. You hear a lot of sounds and creaks!!!
I will of course report back once I complete this Episode and tell you wether I am in NEED of episode 2.

[Chroelle]

I was! But I was able to restrain myself until now. The wait for GTA IV for PC has me in stitches so I need to play something REALLY good now, and my choice fell on Halflife 2 Episode 2. And the price on STEAM was getting to aroud the price I wanted to pay and so... I bought it yesterday and will dig into it later today. However I will still be validating. I have promised myself that it will not interrupt with my current mission in GH-country.
I have just once more moved my deadline for the walkthrough for Sunset over Imdahl and some personal errands.
So I am going into the suit of Gordon Freeman once more and I am hoping to be able to play through it in a couple of days (hoping I am able "free time"-wise and not that the game is short).

Anyone else digged this one?

[Pager]

I think I am in the same boat. I just re-installed HL2 while I have been waiting for Fallout 3 and Fable 2 to hit store shelves. I've had better luck playing it this time around, now that Valve has had time to run into and resolve the video problems I was having before. Turns out HL2 apparently doesn't like to run in anything higher than DX7 on my computer. Plus I have to open it in a window and switch to full screen once the game has started. Oh well.

I think I'm going to start fiddling around with Hammer SDK again, now that I have been programming again, it has really gotten me back into the spirit of developing my own mods.

I still hate Steam though, the answers for my problems were not found on Steam, in fact I really couldn';t find anything in their FAQ section that was worth while to look at...almost like they completely missed the mark on a good help index search tool.

[Chroelle]

The latest release date I have found for Halflife 2 episode 3 is so far 31/12/08 which means that I will be playing this with a hangover (or possibly still drunk)....
But lets see if they can hold the date.
I for one cant wait to get my hands on this.
They say that Episode 3 is the last game of the current story arc, which makes me think wether there will be another story arc in a Hallife 3 around the corner.
I still dont see what people are complaining about regarding the episode releases. I think they rock, since I am tied up in anticipation for the next release in a story arc tht keeps twisting and turning so much that I cant wait to see what happens next. This is way better than a 3 times as long game with one arc that ends right there and then and then you get a new story after a while. No love put into that...
Episode 2 was good, but you just cant wait for the last installment now. Episode 2 had lots of more different enemies that required new strategies. You have to see it for yourself to believe the ways you fight in the end of the episode. It has been a long time since I have had a heartrate that high and still felt good.

[Zyx]

The latest release date I have found for Halflife 2 episode 3 is so far 31/12/08 which means that I will be playing this with a hangover (or possibly still drunk)....
But lets see if they can hold the date.

Valve time is different from what we normal people observe. Valve has promised a surprise this week on E3, but claims it is not Portal 2 (however, this information came from Aperture Science). Might it be time for ep3 finally?

[Chroelle]

I read about that as well, and since E3 started this week then perhaps there is a chance of finding something out. The cool thing is that some people from Xbox, PS3 etc were told that the news they were coming out with did not have any interest to them - which means I might get my beloved HL2 ep3 finally.
Just have to follow this site and perhaps find out: http://www.e3expo.com/home/

[Zyx]

Finally. 240 days in calendar time and 16 hours in game time and I have completed Half-Life 2. Well, that's that monkey off my back.

[Chroelle]

Now to crank up episode 1 and 2, and then perhaps when you are done with those Episode 3 might be out.

Just found out that the expo surprise I mentioned in my last post didnt have anything to do with Episode 3.

[Zyx]

Now to crank up episode 1 and 2, and then perhaps when you are done with those Episode 3 might be out.

My progress with the episodes has been better. I have already played Episode One and I'm currently playing Episode Two. I did really like the zombie hospital part of Ep One and the attic gunship fight.

[Chroelle]

The episodes are in my oppinion way better than the original - simply because they more changing in gameplay... It's not just "blast bad guys all over town, that might show up on every street corner" - all of a sudden you are deeply involved in fighting a big battle, and then you find yourself flying over the beach in a buggy avoiding burrowers, and then...
Hm... Maybe I should start playing those again. Has been a while since my last go as Mr. Freeman.