Official Half-Life 2 discussion thread.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-11-28 05:49am

I didn't mind the end (though the game seemed really short - Half-Life 1 took me much longer to beat the first time through), I was just pissed that the last two levels, while really fun, were easy as fuck. After Nova Prospekt (esp. the first part with three turrets), I was thinking that the game was going to maintain a high level of difficulty, but it instead started getting really easy, culminating in the Benefactors parts, where you're like a Dark Jedi roaming around being attacked by ants. Glad I didn't play on "easy".

Eeasiness aside, the game is fucking awesome. I don't think I could call it "beautiful" enough times. The jumping/movement parts were really well done, too - exciting, but not frustrating. I knew the game was going to be awesome when I first went to the train tracks, heard the train coming, and immediately knew to jump on top of the moving train to get to the other side.

Now all I have to do is wait for DOD:Source to come out. Waiting for that is way harder than waiting for HL2 in the first place.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2004-11-28 10:06am

How does G-Man fit into all of this? Personally, I think he's working for a third party, an opponant of the Combine. He destroyed Black Mesa in order to prevent the Combine from taking it, and he used Freeman to tip the balance in the resistance's favor. It's almost a cold-war situation, with both sides using proxies in order to avoid an actually shooting war.

I agree, I got the distinct impression that the g-man was opposed to the combine's current activities regarding enslavement of the Earth for some reason. Well, it's clear from Gordon's activities, obviously, but I wonder why he's so opposed, since he doesn't seem to care much for humankind, and ooozes slitheryness. Now the question remains, who would such an apparently godlike entity like the g-man would want to be in contracts with, and why would he care about the actions of lower beings like humans and vortigaunts and the combine?

Now, the combine appear to live up to their name, and are making mixtures of species (reference the last 2 levels with those freaky mutants you see as you are carted around, the biotech aircraft etc, and in nova prospekt Dr Breen referring to transhuman soldiers) as well as those weird citadels which go deep underground, up into the sky, and appear to grow. I wonder why they care about integrating different species, for some Borg-like perfection idea? Or maybe it's just to get some sort of competitive edge in security or disposable soldiers on the level of reality that they originally belonged to.

As for how they beat the world's defence forces then were beaten by guerilla warfare, I suspect Eath may have been open to multiple levels of invasion after the resonance cascade, not just Xen and Combine, only the combine were planning for it and installed their citadels before the other transdimensional "players" (like Race X) got a toehold. Or perhaps they just rented an army for a brief period and let them go soon after, or perhaps they have an army spread over several worlds that they had to reinforce after apparently taking Earth.

Perhaps this was just business for them, as was engineering the Nihilanth to control the vortigaunts, and presumably the "commander" alien troops were a combine creation too. The G-Man referred to multiple bidders that would like Gordon's service, so perhaps it is a business world he comes from, with prohibitive rules on what people can do on their world, but since Gordon is an off-worlder with no apparent associations, he can do the gman's bidding without the gman getting caught.

Anyway, things that still bugged me: no gibs, no Xen levels, not enough Xen wildlife seen (just the most annoying enemies from hl and the ant lions), no proper bosses, last 2 levels were too easy.

Still, kickass game, it was one of those i was playing in my head when i closed my eyes, that's the hallmark of a good game. ')

I hope we do get to catch up with Adrian Shephard in the future, since I always preferred Opposing Force to the original Half-Life anyway.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-11-28 10:32am

Rye wrote: Anyway, things that still bugged me: no gibs, no Xen levels, not enough Xen wildlife seen (just the most annoying enemies from hl and the ant lions), no proper bosses, last 2 levels were too easy.

The thing about Xen was that it was one of the biggest complaints about the original. Thats one of the reasons we saw less of it in Op Force.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2004-11-28 12:38pm

Sharp-kun wrote:
Rye wrote: Anyway, things that still bugged me: no gibs, no Xen levels, not enough Xen wildlife seen (just the most annoying enemies from hl and the ant lions), no proper bosses, last 2 levels were too easy.
The thing about Xen was that it was one of the biggest complaints about the original. Thats one of the reasons we saw less of it in Op Force.

The jumping puzzles were annoying, true, but it would have been nice to go back for old times' sake.

Or at least to have seen more Xen wildlife.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-11-28 05:00pm

Yeah, I could have sworn that they were bringing back bullsquids for HL2.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-11-28 06:03pm

IIRC if you look down while being taken to Breen's office you can see a bunch of bullsquids walking. Thats it.

The little book that comes with the CE has a bunch of enemies that were cut. Hydra, Ant Lion King, Prowler, Assasin, Synth Elite...

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-11-28 06:13pm

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:IIRC if you look down while being taken to Breen's office you can see a bunch of bullsquids walking. Thats it.

Those aren't bullsquids.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-11-28 07:11pm

If someone can tell me where my screenshots go (i've tried "seacrch" but no luck) i can post a pic of the "bullsquid" in HL2 for analysis.

EDIT: ignore that, found 'em

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-11-28 07:15pm

And here we go, i assume this is what we're talking about:

Piccie

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-11-28 07:20pm

Those are Synths, or so the Prima Guide says.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-12-10 04:41am

http://www.ntsc-uk.com/feature.php?fea= ... TheSurface

Half Life 2, chewed, digested, and spat-back out in semi-unrecognizable form. An interesting, if somewhat bizzarre read, a literary exploration of Half-Life 2.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-12-10 05:57am

Shinova wrote:http://www.ntsc-uk.com/feature.php?fea= ... TheSurface

Half Life 2, chewed, digested, and spat-back out in semi-unrecognizable form. An interesting, if somewhat bizzarre read, a literary exploration of Half-Life 2.

Woah! and here's me thinking it's just a good game

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2004-12-10 11:22am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Yeah, I could have sworn that they were bringing back bullsquids for HL2.

Well, the model and sounds were in the HL2 beta I had, so they were originally going to have them in at one point. There was also some sort of alien called an "assassin", but the model wouldn't load in the HL2 model viewer. There was, however, a working, unanimated model of a zombie version that looked rather cool. Also, let it be known that those freaky-ass fast zombies used to wear skin and CLOTHES!

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-12-10 01:24pm

According to the excerpts from HL2: Raising the Bar I have, fast zombies started out as the Combine Shock Trooper the Prowler. The Assasin was a sequel to Hl1 female assasin (and its helmet is now the white combine elite soldiers).

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-12-10 06:39pm

I'm annoyed but alos relieved that the nasty fish are only seen in the intro and that you don't have to fight them.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2004-12-11 01:48am

I just tried out HL2DM, and I have this to say: Flying watermelons will fuck you up. Don't believe me? Here's the scenario: I'm just messing around in Overwatch, checking out how DM plays. I decide it'd be fun to take the gravity gun, pick up objects, and throw them (nearly) straight up and have them land on my head. Through this highly scientific process, I have determined that tires are more deadly than large, presumably full file cabinets. But all things pale before the mighty watermelon. Only it was able to kill me and throw my corpse bodily through the ground upon impact, dooming me to an eternity of falling down through the void below all game levels. Until I respawned, anyway.

EDIT: W00t! It seems that at some point, Valve snuck in an update that disables the CD check for retail CD keys. No more CD for me! My prrrrrecious can go back in its box.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2004-12-11 06:43am

Executor32 wrote:
EDIT: W00t! It seems that at some point, Valve snuck in an update that disables the CD check for retail CD keys. No more CD for me! My prrrrrecious can go back in its box.

Soif you've got retailyou canplay without the CD? sweet.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2004-12-11 11:25am

Yeah, the update was just put on the Steam servers yesterday.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-12-11 01:32pm

This is a long thread guys so forgive me if this has been brought up before. I'm trying to install HL2 and get this message on disc 4: "Error 1334 'hl2.ico1' cannot be installed. Is this a common error?

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-12-12 02:11pm

I only just got this game a week ago, and I've been playing up to the part of La Resistance, and I have to say it's fucking sweet (haven't yet seen the effect of those striders hitting people - or me). And they were absolutely right about ATI optimization: I originally played it in a 2.0 ghz computer with a FX5600 and medium detail, and it lagged horribly at certain parts (the open plaza near the beginning, for instance) but my ATI 9200 on a 1.6 ghz box runs fucking fast at MAXIMUM detail and shadows (excepting anti alias which is a hog in every game). I get 30 fps at all times, it rarely ever slows down.

Excellent game, I love the physics and stuff. Am looking forward for total conversions and mods.

EDIT: Forgot to ask this question: to people with the higher-end cards, in the parts with the water boat, do you get awesome cool realtime reflections of everything? Like that big house on a pier? I only get generic reflection maps (they still look fucking cool) and I think there was realtime reflection in one of the earlier parts where you have to dive in a puddle of water for the first time.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-12-12 02:30pm

Slartibartfast wrote:I only just got this game a week ago, and I've been playing up to the part of La Resistance, and I have to say it's fucking sweet (haven't yet seen the effect of those striders hitting people - or me). And they were absolutely right about ATI optimization: I originally played it in a 2.0 ghz computer with a FX5600 and medium detail, and it lagged horribly at certain parts (the open plaza near the beginning, for instance) but my ATI 9200 on a 1.6 ghz box runs fucking fast at MAXIMUM detail and shadows (excepting anti alias which is a hog in every game). I get 30 fps at all times, it rarely ever slows down.

Excellent game, I love the physics and stuff. Am looking forward for total conversions and mods.

EDIT: Forgot to ask this question: to people with the higher-end cards, in the parts with the water boat, do you get awesome cool realtime reflections of everything? Like that big house on a pier? I only get generic reflection maps (they still look fucking cool) and I think there was realtime reflection in one of the earlier parts where you have to dive in a puddle of water for the first time.

The slowdown might be from driver issue's, because there is no way the 9200 can compete in the same resolution, no way.

And yes, for the times when my card agree's to run on DX9, it is beautifle, Far cry has nothing on this water.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-12-12 02:53pm

Stravo wrote:This is a long thread guys so forgive me if this has been brought up before. I'm trying to install HL2 and get this message on disc 4: "Error 1334 'hl2.ico1' cannot be installed. Is this a common error?

CD bug unfortunatly looks like its time to email support tell them you got a possible bad CD and they will ship you a replacement in a week

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2004-12-12 08:19pm

I found two nifty mods you guys might like.

First is JB's Physgun Mod, which, using the source files from the SDK, adds the physics test gun from the beta into the full game . It works mostly the same as I described it in a previous HL2 thread, plus it has a few new features.

Second, and best of all, is the unofficial HL2 DX8 Water Reflection Patch. It enables nearly DX9-quality water for DX8 cards like the GeForce 3 & 4 Ti and the Radeon 9200. There's also a CS:S version.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-12-13 03:51am

Ace Pace wrote:The slowdown might be from driver issue's, because there is no way the 9200 can compete in the same resolution, no way.

Ah, I guess you missed the part where Valve stated that nvidia had serious performance issues with Half Life 2 since before the launch, and how they had to make special workarounds so that high-end GeForce cards could run at more than 5 fps.

And yes, for the times when my card agree's to run on DX9, it is beautifle, Far cry has nothing on this water.

Well, apparently my card is only DX8.1 or something, according to the Video settings of the game. I suppose that's why I don't get reflections.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-13 03:54am

How well would HL2 run with a GeForce 6600GT?