This is why I hate Episode 1!

The $6m Dan · 21 Jun 2006 at 11:31

I nearly gave up on this game, but I'm glad I stuck with it, which I only did because I've paid for it and I'm tight

I found the whole first section in the citadel to be really dull with lots of stop starts whilst we watched Alex talk to pretty much every one she could find. Dog, Gordon and the consoles all got to be talked at by Alex whilst I had to stand and wait.
I didn't even get a gun. The mavity gun is really dull without the chainsaw blades and exploding barrels. to throw around.

It did pick up though, but I hope the second episode continues where the first one finished off, rather than starting with next to no weapons again, and slow paced.

I also think that 6 months between episode is too long. I'll have forgotten most of what happened by the time it's launched.

Tesco · 21 Jun 2006 at 11:40

Tommy B said:
Companies like Valve try and make these action/horror games more interactive and mentally challenging, but end up making a horrible mess of it. I'm stuck inside a dark, water-filled room with an electric box charging all the water. I've somehow go to turn on the switch, and then make my way to the other side whilst the electricity is active. The switch opens the door.

I've been trying this for 25 minutes now. I've tried destroying the box, propping up objects against the door in hope that they jam it open when I turn the switch back on, using the blue barrell (which obviously plays some sort of role in this) as an insulating float on the water. What else. Using the barrell as a stand to try and jump up on to the upper floor.

It's pathetic and I'm this (does the finger gesture) close to smashing the CD in half.

If they're going to do this in games, they should at least provide some sort of hint, or make more than one possible solution.

Its called a puzzle....the game is not pathetic but you are for posting this idiotic crap. Just because you cant figure out a solution dont lay into the company for making a game more interesting....and yes it took me about 10 mins to figure it out and yes I do enjoy these brain teasers in games!

Tesco · 21 Jun 2006 at 11:42

gord said:
Episode 1 was way too short. My only gripe. That bit was pretty cool though... i knew what i was doing

Yeh my feeling as well. Loved every minute of it and looking forward to the next chapter (looks awsome).

toString · 21 Jun 2006 at 12:18

I thought this puzzle was obvious. They'd used the 'blue barrel under some walkway - trick' a couple of times in HL2.

Psyk · 21 Jun 2006 at 13:35

Valve put a lot of work into making sure the player knows what to do. If you have commentary on it explains how do they do this.

kdd · 21 Jun 2006 at 13:39

lol you post a thread to complain about your inability to complete a simple puzzle. None of the puzzles in ep 1 held me (or my 9 year old brother) up for more than a couple of minutes lol

Tommy B · 21 Jun 2006 at 19:05

Tesco said:
Its called a puzzle....the game is not pathetic but you are for posting this idiotic crap. Just because you cant figure out a solution dont lay into the company for making a game more interesting....and yes it took me about 10 mins to figure it out and yes I do enjoy these brain teasers in games!

Well I'm afraid not all of us have your immense brain power and after 25 minutes, enough is enough. Furthermore, it isn't "more interesting" - that scenario was absolutely identical to all the other 'puzzles' in the origional HL2 game. The fact is I overlooked it and tried far more difficult stuff when the answer was simple.

Phil99 · 21 Jun 2006 at 19:15

Yeah, but if they make everything blatently obvious what's the point of "playing" the game other than to sit back and admire the graphics?

I'd rather have a slightly challenging game where if I get really stuck I can ask someone how they did it/look it up on the 'net than one where it's so easy I complete it in a couple of hours without thinking about anything.

Tommy B · 21 Jun 2006 at 23:15

Phil99 said:
Yeah, but if they make everything blatently obvious what's the point of "playing" the game other than to sit back and admire the graphics?

I'd rather have a slightly challenging game where if I get really stuck I can ask someone how they did it/look it up on the 'net than one where it's so easy I complete it in a couple of hours without thinking about anything.

In an ideal world, the game shold have a mechanism that detects if the player is getting stuck, and then it reacts accordingly. For example, Alex could have shouted down a hint or clue.

egg · 21 Jun 2006 at 23:32

kdd said:
lol you post a thread to complain about your inability to complete a simple puzzle. None of the puzzles in ep 1 held me (or my 9 year old brother) up for more than a couple of minutes lol

hey! more love please. give the guy a break!
whatever happened to the old phrase before scrims:

"good luck and have fun!"

DaveyD · 21 Jun 2006 at 23:45

Tommy B said:
In an ideal world, the game shold have a mechanism that detects if the player is getting stuck, and then it reacts accordingly. For example, Alex could have shouted down a hint or clue.

Though you do have every right to moan about non-obvious puzzles and lacks of hints... you do still sound rather bitter about it, a simple, "help I'm a little stuck" instead of it sounding as if you were about to throw all the toys out of the pram

. Look at it this way, you've probably added 1/5th more playtime to this rather short episode

I personally thought it was a well thought out puzzle, and would have been nice to see a few more physics based puzzles like that.

Mark A · 21 Jun 2006 at 23:48

Haha it took me a couple of goes on that bit. I shot the face hugger thing that wa sin the cabbin then took a running jump and made it to the middle then shot the ceiling things that pull you up. Then jumped into the cabbin, i think there was a fence or something acctually leading up to the cabin.

Mark

juno_first · 22 Jun 2006 at 01:34

I'm stuck too...
I'm in a multi level bombed carpark & there's 3 ant lion nests, I'm having trouble knocking the cars over the nests before the ant lions kill me.

Efour · 22 Jun 2006 at 02:15

hahahaham Noobs! get skill

Let Alex shoot the ant lions while u sprint about like a lunatic blocking them.

there are plenty of medkits on that bit if u get hurt a lot, and you should have a lot of shotgun ammo.

TO a seasoned HL2 player ep1 was a way too fast, i did like the start with dog, but it soon got repetative and "normal"

ep2 looks good.

HangTime · 22 Jun 2006 at 03:21

The $6m Dan said:
I found the whole first section in the citadel to be really dull with lots of stop starts whilst we watched Alex talk to pretty much every one she could find. Dog, Gordon and the consoles all got to be talked at by Alex whilst I had to stand and wait.
I didn't even get a gun. The mavity gun is really dull without the chainsaw blades and exploding barrels. to throw around.

I'd agree with that - those areas at the start were very boring.

HangTime · 22 Jun 2006 at 03:22

Tommy B said:
In an ideal world, the game shold have a mechanism that detects if the player is getting stuck, and then it reacts accordingly. For example, Alex could have shouted down a hint or clue.

That's actually a very good idea. I do know what you mean about trying much harder stuff because it's not obvious what you need to do, as I've experienced that in other games. I thought Valve handled things quite well in Ep1 though.

sjt269 · 22 Jun 2006 at 20:13

Tommy B said:
In an ideal world, the game shold have a mechanism that detects if the player is getting stuck, and then it reacts accordingly. For example, Alex could have shouted down a hint or clue.

Have you been playing through with the commentary? That was a feature they tried to implement, but never managed to get quite right in time for realease, so they dropped it. It's the commentary node in...

In that bit where the lights go out and you have to wait for the elevator.

Put the spoiler tags just in case anyone who hasn't played it is reading this thread. It's not like it's a major plot point or anything though.