Half-Life 2: Episode 1

WARNING: SPOILERS

Im sure you all have heard the new release by Valve is coming out soon. Apparantly they are breaking away from expansions like Opposing force and Blue Shift, and are going for small, partial length episode games, which is fine in my opinion because it allows more time for details to be discussed and gives developers more time to, well, develop.

But back to the point. In this release, you (as Gordon Freeman) and Alyx apparantly survived the explosion at the end of HL2 and takes place immediatly after that. Apparantly the G-man loses control of you, you start working for yourself and try to help escape City 17, while staying alive.

But heres the questions I cant wait to have answered.
(1) How in Gods name does the G-man, a dude who litteraly can be anywhere you can, lose control of you after you were put in stasis?
(2) How did Alyx survive the explosion, did the G-man see her as a useful part too?
(3) Did Father Grigori survive at the end of the Ravenholm level?
(4) Do I smell a possible return of Adrian Sheppard? Rember he was in stasis at the end of Opposing Force. Im sure he will gladly hunt down Gordon.
(5) Is it, in some possible way, possible that Dr. Breen survived?

*Cool new stuff.
(1) All characters from HL2 are supposed to make atleast a cameo.
(2) Alyx will be a pernament sidekick throughtout the game, and is actually a good fighter with high kicks and all.
(3) A new grenade weilding Combine-Zombie is creeping about, probably right behind you.
(4) HEADCRABS!
(5) Alot of the game will be above ground, which is perfect becuase Episode 1 will being using HDR like in Lost Coast.
(6) Though Episode 1 will require Steam, Valve team says that they are "making great strides" on Steams user-friendliness, and that they are dedicated to it.

(phew that was alot)

 

A burden, more money, more installation, and just wont be enough game time each game.

And your forgetting the STEAM Factor !!!

 

Should I reiterate, I said

"(6) Though Episode 1 will require Steam, Valve team says that they are "making great strides" on Steams user-friendliness, and that they are dedicated to it."

It obvious that everyone hates Steam, but hey it does keep piracy low, which means games come cheaper. Also means game will never be sold out.

 

Avoid Steam and it's products. Boycott Steam until its games are playable without an internet connection. Piracy will always be an unfixable problem, now there just making it hard for the real consumer. I'd rather pay high prices for games knowing the game is mine and can play any time I wish. Just another example of ppl invading your privacy. These are examples of good old American capitalism, ever increasing prices with ever decreasing quality. Now you get a half assed game for half the price...Dont stand for it!

BOOOOOO !



Ty for your time friends.


::--w_av_y--::

 

I personally have had no issues with steam....I wish more games were like it.

What I'd love to know, is what makes one hate steam.

 

If the game plays anything like half-Life 2, I don't think it matters how it's made available.
If people had trouble with steam in it's infancy, I'm sure the vast majority forgot pretty quickly as they were leaping over rooftops, trying to avoid the combine.
The one thing that does concern me is value for money. HL2 represented that, and whilst the idea for episodic gaming is interesting, I do have a feeling that the overall "price per gaming hour" will be higher.

 

Wow, I thought I started a Half-life debate, not a Steam debate.
Oh well, no one listens to (or likes) me anyway.
I have had no issues with steam except for one time way back when it had some serious issues with loading and firewalls.
Works fine too.

As for the money issue, yeah it will cost more per hour of gaming, but what kind of gaming? Its gonna be high quality since they have more time to develop a possible HL3, flow more games onto your console, and (everyone loves them) give small time developers more modding options, which in turn equals more PSP rocket shooting (SMod for you who dont know). I cant say Id be too mad to dish out the extra dough for that.

 

I have HL2, it came free with my AMD64 processor. I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Steam was constantly slowing down my pc and leaving weird cookies. I was always having problems with the game. LoL, maybe I shouldnt complain because the game for me was free....but any time a company does an Unauthorized Scan of your pc is an invasion of Privacy! Dont believe the hype friends. Boycott Steam before your souls burn in hell while you live out the rest of your life playing Rampage.

And even if you dont mind Steam, you still shouldnt have to pay 19.99 for a half assed game...now theyre just getting cheap.


edit: Just for a clarification; I love the game HL2, just hate Steam.

 

I love the game, its in my top 3. I did have a lenghty install and could not imagine doing it w/o a DSL connection. Since I got the game for Christmas maybe I was installing it with the masses on Christmas morning and that made it much slower. I still find it a PITA when I want to play a quick round and have to go through the mado update process. I'll probaby pick it up when if it goes on sale but that will be and upgrade down the road.

 

Steam has it's problems. I know that. If you forget your account details then you're in a whole heap of trouble - there's this weird procedure where you send them the box (?!?) back so they can verify that you own the game, and re-register your CDKey with a new account.

Surely there is an easier way to achieve that?

As far as I can tell privacy isn't a problem. I know what information they have about me and I don't mind telling them. It's nothing that other people don't know. If they get information about my gaming habits - all the better! I know that if I was a game developer I'd like to know how people played my game. Equally I believe their privacy policy lets you specify exactly what information they're allowed to take from you. As far as I know if you bought the game retail you don't need to give them anything other than a username.

As for Episodes - well, that sounds quite exciting! If it's not going to cost me huge ammounts for each episode I don't mind. I wouldn't want to have to pay for a "subscription" or anything like that. That'd be lame.

 

Like Halo said, where did you get that idea. I think your a capital fellowLove your thread as well.

The Steam download plus the HL2 download took only twenty minutes on my dsl connection, but Steam was always causing problems with my PandaFirewall, even after I had put it in the Do Not Block list...to much hassel to play.

Sorry if I'm seeming to try to impose my beliefs on you all, but I assure you its not like that at all. I think there at least should be a Choice whether you want you want to use Steam or not...isnt that what these new games are about after all..the freedom to choose. I want more options thats all. I think everyone is entitled to more options in these days...at least with pc games anyway....since console games give offer hardly any good downloads.

::w_aV_y::

 

All those that seem to think Steam is a great idea haven't taken into account that if other companies adopt the same feature, then you will have a dozen Steams running in the background.

And not all games work flawlessly after an update. If yours doesn't, that's just too bad.


As far as Steam preventing piracy, you have to be kidding.

It was cracked and defeated from day 1. All it's done is alienate loyal and legitimate customers.

*End of rant*

 

Yeah heres the official site.http://ep1.half-life2.com/

I never said that Steam was a great idea, but I do think its a step in the right direction. How many times have you seen lines from one side of the world to the other for some game (Final Fantasy 7 and beyond, Halo 2, BF2) I cant stand waiting for the game to come, especially since Im with the US Navy, stationed overseas in Japan. We only get games after the rest of the world has a copy (we JUST got FEAR this week! UGH!). Also the fact that almost everyone who owns a computer has broadband http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/broadband/article.php/905351
or atleast dial-up and is constantly connected, it shouldnt suprise anyone that would use that as a way to fend off piracy.

And with that you cant really blame Steam or Valve, blame them scurvy pirates who go out and steal games with there keygens and cracks.

Oh and thanks for being concerned about my comment earlier

Though it was inteded as a joke. I should use more smilies.

 

That's rubbish. Depends which country you are in.

Maybe most people in South Korea have broadband, but certainly not here in Australia or plenty of other countries.


Even if everyone did, what happens if the forced update causes the game to become unplayable?


Steam has done nothing to curb piracy. There are dozens of cracks and patches that prove how vulnerable it is.

 

Ever play BF2 with the 1.2 patch, it seriously screwed the game up, almost unplayable, becuase the enemy would look like allies, and allies like enemies, and tow missle would fly though vehicles or get stuck mid flight. But they fixed it with 1.21 almost a 1 1/2 weeks later. What makes you think Valve wont do the same?

I know EA is like Golith and Valve is probably like david, but still, I have my faith in them that they would hook us up.

Dont get the wrong idea that Im defending Steam at all. Id rather do without it. But the fact is Im very impartial and I never think that the grass is greener on the otherside, cause weeds are green too.

lol bad quote.

 

If the issue is just from one computer, or not widespread, do you really expect Valve to work on a patch? (also, there are plenty of buggy games that haven't been addressed)

Anyway, I've dealt with Valve support, and they are like most support departments, absolutely useless.

Apart from telling me to allow Steam in my firewall and resinstall the game.


As you like analogies, imagine if you bought a car, and just because the manufacturer couldn't prevent theft they made you check in to the police station with your drivers licence every time you want to use it?


Remember Product Activation? That was started by Micro$$oft (and accepted), and now Adobe and Symantec use it among others.

It's starting to get too difficult and complex, and the only people it's annoyed are the loyal and legitimate customers, not the thieves.

They are still stealing programs and games.

About the only copy protection/piracy measure that works is StarForce, but that's only because it's not in widespread use and no one's bothered to crack it.

 

Exactly my point, as I said earlier...Steam is great( for those who want it)...but if I dont want to use it i shouldnt be forced to use it just to play a game...........no matter how good the game is. All about choice..


:::---w_aV-y---:::

 

I dont mean to sound rude, but come on. The G-man is probably the most interesting character Ive ever met, and Im suprised that Valve has kept a tight seal on who he is. And now we learn that hes not the all powerful god we thought he was (with the dissapearing and time freezing and teleporting and all). Since he loses "control" of Gordon this game, odds are he will be a bit more revealing and have a bigger part then just in the beginning and end of the games, but amazingly those have been the best parts of the game.

Also they are talking about making Alyx and Dog bigger parts in the game. Im sure it will be an awesome addition to the HL series.

 

Oh yeah, Alyx and Dog are not invicible, they never were. Take note from gmod and have them take on an ant guard or two (lol, i love hl2 physics). Also gameplay will make you more cooperative with allies. During the rebellion I felt more clusterf***ed than anything when I had a squad of mindless rebels at my side, constantly telling me to reload when I had nearly a full clip. But the AI is supposedly tweaked to be alot more, um, not DUMB! lol.

This time I believe Alyx is a pernament partner throughout the game and she is neccessary for a whole lot of puzzles. Usually the scheme is one of you is the muscle and one the brains. I also heard there is a puzzle in a pitch black hallway filled with zombies, and since only you have the flashlight, you gotta point out zombies and she shoots them. neato.

And heres a quote from a pc-gamer exclusive

Cant wait.

 

An AI upgrade would be fun. If they've fixed the close combat "bug" then I'll be happy