Half-Life 2: Episode 1

TriedandTested · 25 May 2006 at 23:54

Is out next Thursday. Looking forward to more of the HL story...loved HL2.

Just a heads up really..so go get the preload done!

Anyone else looking forward to it?

PS There's a new teaser trailer to download on steam..looks cool. But how the hell do they make the video fade in and out like that? Not seen it before. :cool:

DaveyD · 26 May 2006 at 00:14

I'm looking forward to it, but hoping it's not as stuttertastic as SiN: Episode One is on mine and a lot of other PCs.

It's the last day of exams that day, so I'll be wasted from the afternoon and will have too much to do until probably the following thursday to play it properly.

What do you mean fade in and out? Just standard things that are done on the video editing software the vid is made I guess.

basmic · 26 May 2006 at 00:16

Is it going to a full-length game (as long as HL1 and 2), or just another add-on, as Blueshift was to HL1?

DaveyD · 26 May 2006 at 00:19

basmic said:
Is it going to a full-length game (as long as HL1 and 2), or just another add-on, as Blueshift was to HL1?

It's more of a standalone addon pack. Not really worth the £13 really, compared to HL2 value, as it's going to be only a maximum of 3-4 hours gameplay. Still bought it though.

basmic · 26 May 2006 at 00:19

DaveyD said:
It's more of a standalone addon pack. Not really worth the £13 really, as it's going to be only a maximum of 3-4 hours gameplay.

Sounds like it can wait until my birthday in October then .

toxic · 26 May 2006 at 07:36

if you buy it...is there going to be any more online multiplayer games that come with it...or just the single player version?

DaveyD · 26 May 2006 at 08:03

toxic said:
if you buy it...is there going to be any more online multiplayer games that come with it...or just the single player version?

On the Steam version, you get Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life Deathmatch: Source, which is old HL1 deathmatch on the source engine.

There's not any new multiplayer stuff with the game, it's solely single player.

Noxis · 26 May 2006 at 10:51

They should give it free to those of us who stumped up for the HL2 Gold Pack

XPE · 26 May 2006 at 11:04

Noxis said:
They should give it free to those of us who stumped up for the HL2 Gold Pack

Should have got the retail pack and then you would have really found out what it was like to be shafted :mad:

Sleepery · 26 May 2006 at 11:55

Real money making scheme :mad:

Jimbo Mahoney · 28 May 2006 at 11:00

Apart from HDR, does this have any other graphical upgrades? I notice some sort of soft-shading in the trailers, but I have a feeling that is just video post-processing stuff.

I've preloaded it. I don't think £12 or whatever for 4 - 6 hours on a brand new release is too bad. Think about it - if you buy a game on the day of release, it's £30 and what, 8 hours of play?

Anyway, the £ is good against the $ right now

DaveyD · 28 May 2006 at 11:08

HDR is the only real engine upgrade that's happened, so doubt anything new will be added, and most stuff in the video will be like you said, added post effects.

bakes0310 · 28 May 2006 at 11:43

i ordered it the day they put it up on steam so i cant wait for it.
Its gonna be cool to see the new enemies and other cool stuff.

Mekrel · 28 May 2006 at 13:51

DaveyD said:
HDR is the only real engine upgrade that's happened, so doubt anything new will be added, and most stuff in the video will be like you said, added post effects.

They have added a scripting engine to characters aswell apparently (or maybe just Alyx) which makes them interact with the enviroment more.

Psyk · 28 May 2006 at 13:59

Sleepery said:
Real money making scheme

Addons have been around for years... It's not really any different, except this is actually a stand alone game I think, plus it's cheaper than addons used to be.

sjt269 · 28 May 2006 at 19:30

Every time I try to preload it (which is stupid, since I'm a bit skint now and won't be able to afford it...) I get an error, Steam just gives me a page similar to (or the same as?) the one you get in Firefox or IE when your internet connection dies. Strange thing is, my net connection is fine. It happens with SiN as well if I click on 'purchase'. Strange.

DaveyD · 28 May 2006 at 19:33

tTz said:
Every time I try to preload it (which is stupid, since I'm a bit skint now and won't be able to afford it...) I get an error, Steam just gives me a page similar to (or the same as?) the one you get in Firefox or IE when your internet connection dies. Strange thing is, my net connection is fine. It happens with SiN as well if I click on 'purchase'. Strange.

Double check steam is getting full firewall access. I think a reinstall of Steam can do the trick and fix that problem I think, but make sure you don't delete all your gamefiles with it

Lt Goody · 28 May 2006 at 19:38

I won't be getting it,it seems that it's the latest thing now to release add-ons and charge to much money for them £13 for 3-4 hrs gameplay :mad:

,and look at bf2 stopped playing that now aswell.

sjt269 · 28 May 2006 at 19:39

DaveyD said:
Double check steam is getting full firewall access. I think a reinstall of Steam can do the trick and fix that problem I think, but make sure you don't delete all your gamefiles with it

Heh, sure, I'll give it a go. Only installed it again last week anyway, so there aren't many gamefiles there to lose.

DaveyD · 28 May 2006 at 19:42

Lt Goody said:
I won't be getting it,it seems that it's the latest thing now to release add-ons and charge to much money for them £13 for 3-4 hrs gameplay ,and look at bf2 stopped playing that now aswell.

It's not exactly a new thing.

Look at Blue Shift, that was a bloody short game, but I paid £20 for it when it came out, and I'm sure it's only about 3 hours long, if that. But my, it is a good 3 hours worth of game. Opposing Force, though short, is still only 5-7 hours long, but again, a bloody good Add-on I paid probably £15-20 on.

It would be nice if you got more from Episode One, but you do get: Lost Coast, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life Deathmatch: Source with it, so it's not all bad. You didn't get any DM with BlueShift.