#241376 - 19/11/2004 20:16
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12318
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
But how many games can you name where mind-blowingly good moments like that happen at least once in each level?
Well, the one that comes about 90% close in my mind is Conker's Bad Fur Day. That game was incredible and people really discounted it.
I don't play FPS games, so I can't judge myself, but from every bit of evidence I can see other than playing them myself, it appears that HL2 beats the crap out of Halo 2 in nearly every respect. As a non FPS player, I was very nearly compelled to check out HL2, even though I know playing it will make me physically ill in under a minute.
What I can't understand is why Halo 2 was greeted like God's gift to video games, and then HL2 gets released a tiny bit later and there's barely even any build-up to it. I mean hell, Halo got an ENTIRE DAY devoted to it on G4TechTV. I didn't see for sure, but it didn't even look like there was a mention of HL2 on the channell all day long (of course, this week they seem to be showing reruns of their entire lineup).
So what's the verdict from the game players yourselves?
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Matt
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#241377 - 19/11/2004 20:21
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
What I can't understand is why Halo 2 was greeted like God's gift to video games, and then HL2 gets released a tiny bit later and there's barely even any build-up to it. I mean hell, Halo got an ENTIRE DAY devoted to it on G4TechTV.
Well, temporarily setting aside the fact that money had a lot to do with it (heck, doesn't Microsoft OWN TechTV now?), there's also the consideration that HL2 had an entire year or more of hype and buildup. I didn't even know Halo 2 existed until just a couple months ago.
Thing is, I loved the single player Halo 1 game, and it had a few of those truly great gaming moments. Unfortunately, that was interspersed with incredibly boring repeat-the-same-octagonal-room-over-and-over sections that made me want to claw my own eyes out.
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#241378 - 19/11/2004 20:23
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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Quote:
My gut instinct is that the Nova Prospect section begins at the half-way mark in the game.
OK, so I guessed correctly then. 
Quote:
By the way, did you get penalized for parking your buggy here?
Nope. The train isn't triggered until you start driving down the track. That was a great moment. With the way that section is setup, though, it was easy to guess what was going to happen.
BTW, anyone else a little mad that they have the Gold package (through Steam only) for only $10 more than the Collector's Edition and it comes with a bunch more stuff? If I would've known about the Gold edition I would've boughten that instead. Too bad there's no way to pay the difference and get the extras in the Gold edition (excluding the DVD).
Edited by ricin (19/11/2004 20:50)
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241379 - 19/11/2004 21:21
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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Another thing: How many times did you see the G-Man? I've seen him a few times so far, walking away quickly as soon as I look at him.
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241380 - 19/11/2004 21:25
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Another thing: How many times did you see the G-Man? I've seen him a few times so far, walking away quickly as soon as I look at him.
I only recall noticing him twice, and once was when they specifically had you looking through binoculars so you could see him.
I saw a screen shot of a place during the airboat run where he's standing on the deck outside one of the buildings you go past. It was one of the spots you could stop to get supplies because there was a lambda logo there.
I think I'm going to play through the whole game again immediately, starting tonight, just because I can't get enough of its creamy goodness. I'll look for the G-man harder as I go through it.
I'm told that he appears something like 50 times in the original half-life, and I can only think of a few spots I saw him in that game. They like their easter eggs, don't they?
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#241381 - 20/11/2004 07:06
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
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here they are i was using print screen to take screen captures of the first few levels. that didnt work. i noticed the problem and started using F5. that fixed it, but i was no longer documenting my way through, having missed the first few levels. lots of pics, lots to come. if you have not played the game yet, take a look.
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#241382 - 20/11/2004 18:28
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: RobotCaleb]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Heh, speaking of using white paint cans on the Ravenholm level, take a look at what happens when you fling paint onto one of Father Gregori's spinning traps. Can you say "bounding box"?
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#241383 - 20/11/2004 18:33
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Another thing: How many times did you see the G-Man?
I'm playing through the game a second time, exploring and looking around a lot more than I did the first time, and I'm seeing the G-man a lot more often. I'm only up to Ravenholm and I think I've seen him five times. One time is shortly after you get the gun mounted to the airboat... I was shooting at barnacles and I saw a distant figure on a bridge and started shooting at it. It straightened its tie and calmly walked away.
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#241384 - 20/11/2004 20:15
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Hey, gaming fanatics, do your wives complain of feeling like single mothers with one child too many? 
_________________________
Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Q#5196
MkII #080000376, 18GB green
MkIIa #040103247, 60GB blue
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#241385 - 20/11/2004 23:47
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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Quote:
The train isn't triggered until you start driving down the track.
Odd. I seem to remember that at one point during the bridge sequence, while I was under the tracks, the train traversed the bridge above my head. I was thinking at the time that it was a good idea to park my buggy out of the way so it wouldn't get clobbered.
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#241386 - 20/11/2004 23:47
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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Quote:
I've been taking random screenshots as I go along.
I've been very careful about taking screenshots of all the puzzles and obstacles so I can assist the poor blokes who get stuck on every level.
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#241387 - 21/11/2004 00:39
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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It's funny, I was never stumped by any of the puzzles. I was only ever stumped when I couldn't find an obviuos way out of an area. That happened to me a few times.
The worst example was early-on in the canals section. I was in the bottom of a canal and there was a bunch of junk around: Cars, boxes, barrels, the remnants of a broken bridge. I couldn't climb out, although there were several ledges that looked like I might be able to climb out if I could only get up high enough. An hour later, and after trying all sorts of things including using explosives to blast my way out, I finally managed to stack the junk high enough to reach a ledge, only to be stopped by an invisible wall. (Mappers call this invisible wall a "detail brush", a way of preventing a player from interacting with objects you don't want them to interact with.)
Turns out that there was a tunnel leading out of the area, but it looked identical to other tunnels that were blocked by metal grates. Since it was deeply in shadow, I couldn't see into it well enough to notice. You had to get right up against it and peer inside before you could tell it was a valid exit blocked by barrels. I only stumbled upon it by accident, after I'd long since given up looking for ordinary exits.
THAT made me mad.
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#241388 - 21/11/2004 00:54
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
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the invisible walls piss me off
get creative mappers!
i hate seeing somewhere that looks like i can get to it, and not being able to. hate hate hate
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#241389 - 21/11/2004 01:32
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Cybjorg]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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Yeah, there was a passing train as you go under the bridge, but I'm guessing they just played the sound and rattled the bridge and didn't bother with the train itself since it's out of view, hence there is nothing to collide with the buggy.
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241390 - 21/11/2004 01:37
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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The only places I've gotten "stuck" so far were where I knew where to go, but every time I'd try I'd get killed. I end up doing those sections a few times before finally getting through. Right now I'm in that situation with the stupid striders. I'm out of rockets, and I can see a crate of them up in a staircase, but if I try and get to it, I get taken out by the strider. Not stuck, just frustrated that I can't get to the rockets and take out the strider without dying. 
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241391 - 21/11/2004 02:56
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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In those cases, I usually have to rewind to an earlier savegame and do the "run up" to that scene better, so that I have more health, or perhaps more of my squad with me, or whatever. Sometimes rewinding just changes the subtle randomizations of how the scene plays out so that the bad guys are in slightly easier-to-kill places or whatever, and you end up being able to get through it.
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#241392 - 21/11/2004 04:15
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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Yeah, I've done that a few times too. I think in this case I'll have to as well. I just can't seem to get to the rockets without the strider taking me out. 
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241393 - 21/11/2004 10:16
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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OK, I'm well into the Citadel now. What sucks is ever since I entered the Citadel, jump has stopped working. I've tried remapping it, restarting the game, and rebooting, but nothing works. First bug I've found. The only suggestions on the forums are the things I already tried. Hopefully it'll just go away or they'll release a patch soon.
PS: I've uploaded more screenshots.
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241394 - 21/11/2004 11:28
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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veteran
Registered: 19/06/2000
Posts: 1495
Loc: US: CA
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Welp, I finished the game, and I've got to say it was amazing. Great writing, great voice acting, animation... everything. Can't wait for HL3.  Only bug I ran into was the not being able to jump and, related to that, there was something messed up with my collision detection. It would randomly fling me across the room after gently tapping objects in the level. It only did this in the "Dark Energy" part. I started a new game and started from that chapter and everything was fine. *shrug* Anyway, uploading the rest of the screenshots now.  I think I'll go through the game again slower this time.
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Donato MkII/080000565 MkIIa/010101253 ricin.us
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#241395 - 21/11/2004 14:31
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
I think I'll go through the game again slower this time.
I'm finding that it's a lot like watching a good movie the second time through. You notice lots of little things you didn't see the first time. Definitely worth doing.
Example: this strange easter egg. Dunno what it means, but it's cool.
I'm still getting startled by some things, too.
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#241396 - 22/11/2004 15:13
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: ricin]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1522
Loc: Arizona
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Quote:
BTW, anyone else a little mad that they have the Gold package (through Steam only) for only $10 more than the Collector's Edition and it comes with a bunch more stuff? If I would've known about the Gold edition I would've boughten that instead. Too bad there's no way to pay the difference and get the extras in the Gold edition (excluding the DVD).
Yeah, I wasn't happy about that. I really don't like the fact that I still need to have the DVD in the player when I was under the impression that I didn't need it.
I've been toying with the idea of buying the Gold Edition and giving my DVD and Steam account to a friend instead. He was also the recipient of my UT2004 game when I finally found the Collector's Edition also... He must love it when I mess up.
- Tim
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#241397 - 22/11/2004 15:41
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: mschrag]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Anyone know of a way to test my hardware to see if it'll be good enough to play HL2? I'd like to play, but I don't want to spend $60 only to find out that I'll have to spend another $200 on a new video card to use it. And I can't find any technical specs anywhere to help me out. Maybe someone could point me that way.
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Bitt Faulk
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#241398 - 22/11/2004 15:55
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Anyone know of a way to test my hardware to see if it'll be good enough to play HL2?
Linky 1
Linky 2
Linky 3
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#241399 - 22/11/2004 15:58
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Tim]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
I really don't like the fact that I still need to have the DVD in the player when I was under the impression that I didn't need it.
The work-around is: Do the online steam "download" version, using the product key from that DVD.
I'm not sure how the mechanics of this installation work (dunno if you have to actually install the DVD version or if just the product key is enough, for example), but that's Valve's official position on a no-CD installation.
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#241400 - 22/11/2004 16:01
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Oh, for those playing through the game, if you get supremely irritated at the limited flashlight duration (dealing with it all the time actually gave me a headache), you can do this in the console:
sv_infinite_aux_power 1
I did this about half way through my second play-through of the game and it made the experience a lot more enjoyable.
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#241401 - 22/11/2004 19:15
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1522
Loc: Arizona
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Quote:
Quote:
I really don't like the fact that I still need to have the DVD in the player when I was under the impression that I didn't need it.
The work-around is: Do the online steam "download" version, using the product key from that DVD.
I'm not sure how the mechanics of this installation work (dunno if you have to actually install the DVD version or if just the product key is enough, for example), but that's Valve's official position on a no-CD installation.
Thanks, I'll try that next time I reinstall my system. I'm still interested in the Gold version to see what posters it comes with though
- Tim
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#241402 - 01/12/2004 18:57
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: mschrag]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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Are you confused as to just what is going on in Half Life 2, or even the 1st one for that matter? Check out the The Half-Life Saga Story Guide created by Chan "Ventro" Karunamuni. This guide is there to lay out the story and events of the Half-Life saga as well as filling in other details such as who the Combine are, etc.
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#241403 - 01/12/2004 19:01
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Are you confused as to just what is going on in Half Life 2, or even the 1st one for that matter?
Not really. I like how you get the backstory from lots of subtle cues, as opposed to just a bunch of outright exposition. But it means you have to be paying attention and looking for the cues.
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#241404 - 01/12/2004 19:15
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: Cybjorg]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31565
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Hm, it's an interesting read, but I think I disagree with some of his conclusions. For example, he assumes that City 17 is the new capital of Earth after the invasion and that Breen is the puppet human leader for the whole planet.
I got a different impression: Breen is the puppet administrator of just City 17, and there isn't anything particularly special about C17 other than it was where the old Black Mesa people had holed up. The game is set in C17 only because Gman sent you there to meet up with the other Black Mesa veterans because he knew you'd need their help. I never felt like C17 was the key Combine stronghold, merely one place for the rebels to get a toehold in their long fight against the Combine.
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#241405 - 01/12/2004 20:25
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Half-Life 2 engines
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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I also don't feel like you necessarily thwart (or destroy) the Combine stronghold in City 17 - just the warping machine in which Breen is trying to escape.
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