HL2: Episode Two preview in PC Gamer

[Varsity]

PC Gamer US have a preview on Half-Life 2: Episode Two which has been reported on the Steam forums (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=450116). Minor spoilers ahead!

Editor's Note: Spoilers Moved to the first post (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?p=311575#post311575).

Slippage already? Well, how else would we know it was Valve...

[bapenguin]

*SPOILERS*

*NEW* Release estimate: Spring 2007
Gravity gun will get new functionality
Alyx is alive
Vortigaunts will be more fleshed out
More details about GMan will be revealed
New vehicle will be introduced made by some guys in the woods. Will serve as enemy rammer.
We will cover the same number of locales as in HL2 and the new locales will have a much more realistic feel to them since they are based off real locations (missile silo, mine shaft, etc.)
Eli and Kleiner have set up base in the trailer's missile silo and you have to get the packet to them
We'll see the most difficult physics puzzle to date
New weapon known as the 'Strider buster'
Strider and Hunter now has a weak spot *could change*
Big Battlefield-esque combat engagements with lots of enemies and allies fighting. Woods provide plenty of cover
A new yet-to-be-announced multiplayer game will ship with Episode Two

[Khash]

Spring '07? Seriously, episodic content is overrated.

[jeffool]

Wow, Spring '07. That does kinda suck. And a weak spot? What, are they making them more "historic?"

[Heretic Machine]

Spring '07? Seriously, episodic content is overrated.

Ya, that is pretty insane...

[Reanimated]

Spring 07? I really hope that's bullshit. Otherwise Valve has obviously misinterpreted the meaning of "episodic". I can't ever recall waiting a year to see the next episode of 24...

They must be trying to kill this whole "episodic" movement before it even gets off the ground.

[The Iron Weasel]

Wow this one will hopefully be longer then episode one, considering they started development of both EP1 and EP2 at the same time.

[Steve_Erhardt]

Spring 07 is pretty nuts. As has been said already, if that's the case, then they've really got zero understanding of the commonly accepted meaning of "episodic".

On the Brighter side, Circuit City has Episode 1 for $8.00. Nabbed mine Sunday.

[CrashCart]

Wasn't Episode 2 slated for before Christmas? I seem to recall reading a post about that around here somewhere and being surprised that they would release another episode this year. I guess I don't need to be surprised any longer. :D

With this news, I'm not in such a rush to get started on the Episodes, then. I'm still kind of leaning towards waiting until they're all out and hoping there will be some kind of package deal.

Edit: Though, for 8 bucks, I might have to swing by my local Circuit City sometime soon.

[Reanimated]

Spring 07 is pretty nuts. As has been said already, if that's the case, then they've really got zero understanding of the commonly accepted meaning of "episodic".

On the Brighter side, Circuit City has Episode 1 for $8.00. Nabbed mine Sunday.



I fucking love it when I read shit like that after having paid 20 dollars for a digital download. :mad:

[bapenguin]

Yeah...I would think every 3 months would be good. Maybe even 4 months. But a year?

Nope...time to come up with something different. Not to mention if Valve is shooting for Spring 07....that means Fall 07.

[jeffool]

I fucking love it when I read shit like that after having paid 20 dollars for a digital download. :mad:Maybe during Christmas their hearts will grow three times too big and they'll let 'us' have Episode 2 for free!

(Hey, a guy can dream.)

[Varsity]

It's only two or three months, people...

[Reanimated]

It boggles the mind that these episodes are taking this long. I mean they're using a pre-existing engine and assets.

[Steve_Erhardt]

I fucking love it when I read shit like that after having paid 20 dollars for a digital download. :mad:
Sorry dude. :(

I knew I'd torque some tails with that bit of news, but I figured it's worth getting out there for anybody sitting on the fence on whether to get it or not. I know that $8.00 price tag pushed it into the "go buy now" category for me whereas before I saw the Circuit City ad, I hadn't planned on getting it.

But for $8.00, it was a done deal, and that much sweeter for having the case, since they were too fucking cheap to put the regular retail HL2 disks in anything but paper envelopes. Now I've got it all in the Episode 1 case, looks nice on the shelf.

[Borys]

Some *insane* features in the spoiled section (Strider Buster? Fuck yeah!).

The Spring 07 release date is laughable, please God of gaming, kill the episodic/ microtransacting move in its infancy, PLEASE.

[Wedge]

It boggles the mind that these episodes are taking this long. I mean they're using a pre-existing engine and assets.

My thoughts as well. I sort of expected to have ep 2 by autumn, and even then I thought I wasn't being unrealistic. Oh well.

If it is going to be as big as HL2, then I understand. If it is going to be as big as ep 1, then I don't understand.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

It boggles the mind that these episodes are taking this long. I mean they're using a pre-existing engine and assets.

Actually this preview kinda shows that they are not using previous assets, and the Gabe Newell interview that was posted here a week or two ago said that there's going to be some big improvments to Source with Ep2.

[Wyrm]

See, I'm sitting here thinking, why the hell not combine the three "episodes"? The combined thing, which I'm going to coin a new term for, and call, an "Expansion" would come out next Spring. This "Expansion" would constitute features from all of these episodes, be a comprable length to the original game, and come out in one nice tidy release for about 30 bucks.

Instead of wasting our time, and our money, we get more content for less money. Oh wait, that was the point. Rob everyone blind by giving them a 4 hour game that they pay 20 bucks for. I've played Crimsonland for longer than 4 hours, and that ran me up all of 10 bucks. I've played Oasis for longer than 4 hours, and that cost me 15 bucks. I've played the HELL out of tons of games that cost me less than 20 bucks.

I even enjoyed Episode 1 a great deal, but I still felt like I was completely robbed at the end.

[Rifter]

I fucking love it when I read shit like that after having paid 20 dollars for a digital download. :mad:

Yea... I read that 2 days after I bought mine for $20. :-(

[Kefkataran]

Spring release is bad, but... unannounced multiplayer game? Oh god... TFC: Source? Could it be? Am I too hopeful?

[Reanimated]

See, I'm sitting here thinking, why the hell not combine the three "episodes"? The combined thing, which I'm going to coin a new term for, and call, an "Expansion" would come out next Spring. This "Expansion" would constitute features from all of these episodes, be a comprable length to the original game, and come out in one nice tidy release for about 30 bucks.

Instead of wasting our time, and our money, we get more content for less money. Oh wait, that was the point. Rob everyone blind by giving them a 4 hour game that they pay 20 bucks for. I've played Crimsonland for longer than 4 hours, and that ran me up all of 10 bucks. I've played Oasis for longer than 4 hours, and that cost me 15 bucks. I've played the HELL out of tons of games that cost me less than 20 bucks.

I even enjoyed Episode 1 a great deal, but I still felt like I was completely robbed at the end.



See, if they put it out in 3 chunks, then they get to charge you 60 dollars for something that they would only be able to charge 30 for as an expansion. It's not really "episodic gaming", it's more like "semantic fleecing".

And I agree with you. I did NOT feel that Ep2 was worth the 20 dollars I spent. The 30 minutes I spent retreading the same level near the end of the game was especially annoying (that stupid ass pack-the-train mission).

[Deadend]

Spring release is bad, but... unannounced multiplayer game? Oh god... TFC: Source? Could it be? Am I too hopeful?
But, they already announced TFC 2.

The secret multiplayer game will be Riccoshet, the game that no one played. Or maybe a remake of DeathMatch Classic, yeah, thats the winner there.

Now I feel better about not playing episode 1, as Episode 2 will be delayed, and Episode 3 will be a bonus feature when you buy Duke Nukem Forever.

[Nameback]

Spring release is bad, but... unannounced multiplayer game? Oh god... TFC: Source? Could it be? Am I too hopeful?
I love your train of thought

[Pluvious]

What a joke. A year to make a 4 hour hour episode?.. Kiss my ass Valve..

Combine that crap news with this issue:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=443922
which seems to be a huge problem due to almost 38,000 views of the thread. Lock ups at loading screens.. sigh. Its been a problem for me and I had to fight my way for days to play the whole thing. oh and I paid $17.99 thru steam.. ya I'm pissed.

[Kefkataran]

See, if they put it out in 3 chunks, then they get to charge you 60 dollars for something that they would only be able to charge 30 for as an expansion. It's not really "episodic gaming", it's more like "semantic fleecing".

Bullshit. A shooter expansion pack would run maybe 5-8 hours (the same as and/or not much more than a single episode), whereas this should total at least 12-15 hours.

[TrackZero]

Yeah...I would think every 3 months would be good. Maybe even 4 months. But a year?

Nope...time to come up with something different. Not to mention if Valve is shooting for Spring 07....that means Fall 07.

Well, considering most games of Half-Life calibre take 3-4 years development time, a year for each 8 hour part makes sense.

[Pluvious]

Don't make excuses for them!.. that's sad. They have the engine DONE and most of the assets for christ sake! That's the reason it takes 3-4 years.. when they have to create the thing from scratch.. make a new engine and such. There is no reason to have to wait 12 months for a small 4-5hr mod folks.

[Liquidize105]

Tough. Everybody wants a good game, but nobody wants to wait for it.

They started epi2 the same time as epi1. It takes time.

Besides you can't only compare the lengths of playtime, devs have to scrutinize over every detail, there could be things that take longer than others. The new weapons, the new enemy (omg only one?!?!) - they have to fit into the world design in the larger sense. Noticed how half of everything in HL2 revolves around physics? It's not a come-n-go things where you run into it in-between 1-2 levels, it's more than a gimmick. The roller mines, the vehicles flipping over, the physics damage, scanners/manhacks, the puzzles - its a prominent part of the game, it's almost shoulder to shoulder with the shooting. The new stuff have to stay consistent with the physics gameplay.

[Nerv]

Hell man, if even half of this is in the finished game, I can wait for spring.

[Syl]

Considering that I have paid $50 for less than 10 hours of gameplay (F.E.A.R, HL2, PoP, etc. etc.) paying $20 for 3 hours of gameplay - and getting it sooner - seems perfectly alright to me. (Hell, i've even paid $40 for games with, theoretically, less than 2 hours of gameplay. <3 Shmups ).

If you listen to the commentary on episode 1 (and Lost Coast) it makes sense as to why the game took so long to release, valve only wants to release quality, and it appears that massive parts of the game were constantly remade to be "fun" and "enjoyable" when the original designs ended up being "confusing" and "irritating".

[TrackZero]

Considering that I have paid $50 for less than 10 hours of gameplay (F.E.A.R, HL2, PoP, etc. etc.) paying $20 for 3 hours of gameplay - and getting it sooner - seems perfectly alright to me. (Hell, i've even paid $40 for games with, theoretically, less than 2 hours of gameplay. <3 Shmups ).


3 Hours? Now that's definitely out of the ballpark. HL2 episode 2 was at least 4-6 hours, depending on how much of a rush you were trying to get through it (and no, not counting the commentary re-play). Either way though, your point stands. It's solid value for the cost, and you'll hear no complaints from me.

[H.Bogard]

Actually this preview kinda shows that they are not using previous assets, and the Gabe Newell interview that was posted here a week or two ago said that there's going to be some big improvments to Source with Ep2.


Link plis...

[bapenguin]

Well, considering most games of Half-Life calibre take 3-4 years development time, a year for each 8 hour part makes sense.

Except it was about 4 hours.

[Reanimated]

Bullshit. A shooter expansion pack would run maybe 5-8 hours (the same as and/or not much more than a single episode), whereas this should total at least 12-15 hours.




I guess that would be true if you're a fucking retard. Ep2 took me 3 hours to complete in a single sitting. That's pretty steep. LOTR was about 3 hours long and I only paid 6 bucks to see that.

[Kefkataran]

I guess that would be true if you're a fucking retard. Ep2 took me 3 hours to complete in a single sitting. That's pretty steep. LOTR was about 3 hours long and I only paid 6 bucks to see that.

Almost everyone I've talked to (myself included) has taken at least 4 hours, which, when you consider the cost of a full game and the time commitment of that (10-12 hours, if not less), is not as bad as you're making it out to be. In addition there's the commentary, which is either completely useless or (if you're like me) guarantees another playthrough.

[Wyrm]

Considering that I have paid $50 for less than 10 hours of gameplay (F.E.A.R, HL2, PoP, etc. etc.) paying $20 for 3 hours of gameplay - and getting it sooner - seems perfectly alright to me. (Hell, i've even paid $40 for games with, theoretically, less than 2 hours of gameplay. <3 Shmups ).

If you listen to the commentary on episode 1 (and Lost Coast) it makes sense as to why the game took so long to release, valve only wants to release quality, and it appears that massive parts of the game were constantly remade to be "fun" and "enjoyable" when the original designs ended up being "confusing" and "irritating".

That's funny, because I found that section where you have to bring the same group of people to the train over and over exceedingly irritating.

I finished it in a measley three and a half hours and I loved most of it, but I was so angry at how short it was. I suppose that's a good thing, but damn, what a waste of money. I'd rather wait for a robust expansion than something like this.

And in my experience, some expansions are almost as long as the original game. Warcraft III: Frozen Throne comes to mind. I think that campaign is actually about the same length even though there are technically only three main campaigns. All of the original Half Life expansions were a good 8-10 hour play through. The Warhammer 40K Dawn of War expansion was awesome and fairly lengthy as well. I'm not really sure where you're getting this 5-8 hours thing.

[Kefkataran]

All of the original Half Life expansions were a good 8-10 hour play through.

Huh? Opposing force was long, I'll give you that. Probably one of the longest FPS expansions I've ever played. But Blue Shift? Blue Shift was AT LEAST as short as Episode One, if not shorter. I blasted through Blue Shift in one sitting, and not even a whole sitting let me add. No way it was longer than three or four hours.

You can't really compare RTS expansions, because RTS games are just longer in general. It's part of the nature of the genres. FPS = fast-paced action, so it ends more quickly, and RTS = slower, strategic, so it's stretched out longer. That's why the original Warcraft 3 and Dawn of War (not the expansions) are much longer than the original Half-Life 2.