besides what Hl2 does amazing, there are so many things that need fixed in ep3

The half life games do certain things amazingly well. They feature great stories, with fantastic characters and set a mood really really well. They are all epic and the story all ties together so well is really though provoking.

With that all being said there are so many many flaws in hl2, ep1 and ep2. These are flaws that havent been changed since they were revealed in hl2 which leaves me to think valve is just stupid or being really really lazy.

To start, the AI. The marine soldier AI in half life 1 was far greater than anything ive ever seen in hl2 or the episodes. Here the soldiers just stand in one spot firing, never using cover, they never hunt you down, theres no squad mechanics or anything. They just spot you, stand there and open fire.

Number two is also enemy related, its just the way the respond to fire. They take way too much damage and make the weapons you have feel weak. I dont know how many times ive point blanked an enemy in the head with the shotgun and he needs another 2 or 3 rounds to finish him off.

Valve - headshots need to be instant kills, freaking fix that. Not to mention when you put body shots on enemies or even the multiple headshots they just stand there and keep firing away, enemies are never staggered or drop or react in any way. This is makes the gun play unbelievably boring. Certain firefights turn out to be you in a room with 3 or four guys standing around shooting until they go down. This problem has lead me to play the game on easy, not that i like it to be easy but its the only way enemies die after a realistic amount of ammo is put into them.

It is so bad in fact that when i originally played hl2 I always had the latest smod downloaded because it made it to where enemies died after a quick few bursts of fire, and added more weapons as well as iron sights and bullet time (not really necessary but fun)

The insane amount of loadscreens. Uncharted had zero paused loading screens after the initial one and the half life games (that arent even that hardware taxing) load about every 3-10 minutes of gameplay. the only excuse for this is lazyness. Valve you are lazy, all there is to it.

I would love to see half life 2 ep. 3 have completely awesome reworked squad ai and much improved gunplay but i just know its going to be exactly like the rest of the games meaning lots of boring gameplay but lots of awesome story progression. I'll still buy and completely love the games but it just seems so off for a game thats considered the greatest fps of all time.

Streaming, so it doesn't have 500 20 second loading screens.levi895

this

Streaming, so it doesn't have 500 20 second loading screens.levi895

yes! see i had a million reasons i came up with while replaying orange box last night and i could only remember these two, ill add otheres as i remember htanks

Gimme more weaponsVerge_6

you wouldnt need more if hte weapons were actuallygood, the smg is useless on the later soldiers and as i stated in the op the shotgun can take multiple headshots to kill enemies, its like the alt fire is mandatory (double barrel shot)

[QUOTE="Verge_6"]Gimme more weaponsblues3531

you wouldnt need more if hte weapons were actuallygood, the smg is useless on the later soldiers and as i stated in the op the shotgun can take multiple headshots to kill enemies, its like the alt fire is mandatory (double barrel shot)

Speaking of weapons, I find the Pulse Rifle a bit...out of place. Even more so than the gravity gun.

[QUOTE="blues3531"]

[QUOTE="Verge_6"]Gimme more weaponsVerge_6

you wouldnt need more if hte weapons were actuallygood, the smg is useless on the later soldiers and as i stated in the op the shotgun can take multiple headshots to kill enemies, its like the alt fire is mandatory (double barrel shot)

Speaking of weapons, I find the Pulse Rifle a bit...out of place. Even more so than the gravity gun.

me too but it really has some use, its powerful and it sounds awesome, has good range. the smg just sucks once you get past the standard metro cp.

[QUOTE="Verge_6"][QUOTE="blues3531"]

[QUOTE="Verge_6"]Gimme more weaponsblues3531

you wouldnt need more if hte weapons were actuallygood, the smg is useless on the later soldiers and as i stated in the op the shotgun can take multiple headshots to kill enemies, its like the alt fire is mandatory (double barrel shot)

Speaking of weapons, I find the Pulse Rifle a bit...out of place. Even more so than the gravity gun.

me too but it really has some use, its powerful and it sounds awesome, has good range. the smg just sucks once you get past the standard metro cp.

[QUOTE="blues3531"][QUOTE="Verge_6"][QUOTE="blues3531"]

[QUOTE="Verge_6"]Gimme more weaponsmetroidprime_1

you wouldnt need more if hte weapons were actuallygood, the smg is useless on the later soldiers and as i stated in the op the shotgun can take multiple headshots to kill enemies, its like the alt fire is mandatory (double barrel shot)

Speaking of weapons, I find the Pulse Rifle a bit...out of place. Even more so than the gravity gun.

me too but it really has some use, its powerful and it sounds awesome, has good range. the smg just sucks once you get past the standard metro cp.

i know, valve shouldve been smart enough to make the pulse rifle the standard weapon at that point so the gameplay doesnt suck balls. You find 30 rounds every once in a while and it only holds like 90 total. meanwhile the smg is always full.

I found HL2 really boring, after all the hype. I bought The Orange Box, and I was disappointed. The only thing that made me keep on playing it, was the music, 'Sector Sweep'. that track owns. anyone knows how I can get it?

I found HL2 really boring, after all the hype. I bought The Orange Box, and I was disappointed. The only thing that made me keep on playing it, was the music, 'Sector Sweep'. that track owns. anyone knows how I can get it?

xxThyLordxx

U had to make the same thread here and on the PC forum? I'm fine with HL2 i dont think it needs much changing except for a few new puzzles and crazy weapons like the original HL im happy with the game.TanKLoveR

well its a pc game but it would probably get more responses here, whats the problem with that??

U had to make the same thread here and on the PC forum? I'm fine with HL2 i dont think it needs much changing except for a few new puzzles and crazy weapons like the original HL im happy with the game.TanKLoveR

Did you even read it? I am somewhat fine with it but you're happy with the crappy ass ai and the way they just stand there? or the way they dont react to your gunfire except when they die with horrible ragdolls? This isnt 2004 they need to advance the game to todays standards and neither episode has done that

[QUOTE="TanKLoveR"]U had to make the same thread here and on the PC forum? I'm fine with HL2 i dont think it needs much changing except for a few new puzzles and crazy weapons like the original HL im happy with the game.blues3531

well its a pc game but it would probably get more responses here, whats the problem with that??

There isnt a "problem" with anything, but if u wanted better opinion u should have kept it on the PC forums, here all u r going to get is 45345 halo fans saying how boring hl2 is cuz it actually has a good story :lol: and that it needs double weapons :lol.

[QUOTE="blues3531"]

[QUOTE="TanKLoveR"]U had to make the same thread here and on the PC forum? I'm fine with HL2 i dont think it needs much changing except for a few new puzzles and crazy weapons like the original HL im happy with the game.TanKLoveR

well its a pc game but it would probably get more responses here, whats the problem with that??

There isnt a "problem" with anything, but if u wanted better opinion u should have kept it on the PC forums, here all u r going to get is 45345 halo fans saying how boring hl2 is cuz it actually has a good story :lol: and that it needs double weapons :lol.

Yes, how dare I want something more from a game. Well, I guess I'll go back to playing my Haloz nows. :roll:

They need to fix the damn gunplay.. HL2 combat is easy beyond belief.

Also, I think the episodes need to be longer.

[QUOTE="blues3531"]

[QUOTE="TanKLoveR"]U had to make the same thread here and on the PC forum? I'm fine with HL2 i dont think it needs much changing except for a few new puzzles and crazy weapons like the original HL im happy with the game.TanKLoveR

well its a pc game but it would probably get more responses here, whats the problem with that??

There isnt a "problem" with anything, but if u wanted better opinion u should have kept it on the PC forums, here all u r going to get is 45345 halo fans saying how boring hl2 is cuz it actually has a good story :lol: and that it needs double weapons :lol.

and the Loadscreens should dissapear. It kills the pace of the game

They need to fix the damn gunplay.. HL2 combat is easy beyond belief.

Also, I think the episodes need to be longer.

aliblabla2007

well...theyre episodes... about 5-6 hours each is fine. you add them up and just 2 of them are longer than 90% of fps games today and with the 3rd coming out it really distances itself. hl2 was a 20 hr fps.

Half Life Ep2 didnt have many load screens at all. Has to do with the engine.

- The rest is all subjective.

I really didnt like SMOD, it just didnt feel like Half Life

ITs great as it is, and yes it will evolve in Ep3 and HL3.

I never thought I'd see someone call Valve lazy and get away with it.TemplaerDude

i never realized valve WAS lazy until replaying hl2 ep2 last night. they left too many flaws unchanged when they were only working on a 5 hour game over how many years?

Half Life Ep2 didnt have many load screens at all. Has to do with the engine.

- The rest is all subjective.

I really didnt like SMOD, it just didnt feel like Half Life

ITs great as it is, and yes it will evolve in Ep3 and HL3.

skrat_01

the crap AI is subjective? the way the react to gunfire? the lack of squad mechanics? this is 2008. i stated earlier they need to advance the game, it doesnt have to be like smod but jeez fear came out a year after hl2 and the gunplay was infinitely better not to mention the AI (fears strongest point)

[QUOTE="TemplaerDude"]I never thought I'd see someone call Valve lazy and get away with it.blues3531

i never realized valve WAS lazy until replaying hl2 ep2 last night. they left too many flaws unchanged when they were only working on a 5 hour game over how many years?

Theoretically it was fine when these episodes were suppose to come out six months apart, thereby completing the HL2 saga by midway 2006 while the gameplay was rather fresh. Right now it's the middle of 2008, we still haven't heard of any real concrete evidence for Episode 3, and HL2 on the Source Engine is straining to keep up with today's FPSs. Artificial Intelligence and gunplay/gameplay are constantly evolving in the genre, and the only thing that got Episode 2 by was really the story. Valve need to hurry the hell up. Crytek, Ubisoft, Monolith and DICE are upping the ante in the near future. The successor to Source needs to be future-proof, but this time I seriously doubt Valve can get away with cinematic immersiveness alone a la Half Life 2. This time around, they really need to inject some "new" into the gameplay.FrozenLiquid

exactly. honestly its not the graphics. id be fine if everything was the same except fear style ai. and for the love of god enemies need to die after realistic amount of damage is done, headshots = instant kills and when you lay a shotgun into their chest and they dont die they at least need to drop for a few seconds or staggar back. fix taht and ill call the game a 10.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]

Half Life Ep2 didnt have many load screens at all. Has to do with the engine.

- The rest is all subjective.

I really didnt like SMOD, it just didnt feel like Half Life

ITs great as it is, and yes it will evolve in Ep3 and HL3.

blues3531

the crap AI is subjective? the way the react to gunfire? the lack of squad mechanics? this is 2008. i stated earlier they need to advance the game, it doesnt have to be like smod but jeez fear came out a year after hl2 and the gunplay was infinitely better not to mention the AI (fears strongest point)

Yea A.i you are right. THough it really is a design choice rather than the a.i being crap. The combine are in far greater number than the soldiers in HL1, they are supposed to be like 'goons' or so it seems. Leave the great a.i for the gunships, striders and hunters.

React to gunfire? Just fine. Actually probably the best in a shooter... Different caliber weapons do different damage. A Pulse rifle, crossbow, shotgun, revolver are just dandy. Heck the faltlining sound combine make upon being killed is great.

Squad mechincs? HL isnt a squad shooter. Why should it jump on the bandwagon? COD, Bioshock, Crysis, Halo 3 arent squad based shooters....

The game is advancing. From HL1 to 2 was phenominal, Ep1 and Ep2 are just steps fowards though - its epsodic conent, what else do you expect. Of course a fully fleged sequal should be a stride foward, but thats what the episodes arent.

[QUOTE="blues3531"][QUOTE="skrat_01"]

Half Life Ep2 didnt have many load screens at all. Has to do with the engine.

- The rest is all subjective.

I really didnt like SMOD, it just didnt feel like Half Life

ITs great as it is, and yes it will evolve in Ep3 and HL3.

skrat_01

the crap AI is subjective? the way the react to gunfire? the lack of squad mechanics? this is 2008. i stated earlier they need to advance the game, it doesnt have to be like smod but jeez fear came out a year after hl2 and the gunplay was infinitely better not to mention the AI (fears strongest point)

Yea A.i you are right. THough it really is a design choice rather than the a.i being crap. The combine are in far greater number than the soldiers in HL1, they are supposed to be like 'goons' or so it seems. Leave the great a.i for the gunships, striders and hunters.

React to gunfire? Just fine. Actually probably the best in a shooter... Different caliber weapons do different damage. A Pulse rifle, crossbow, shotgun, revolver are just dandy. Heck the faltlining sound combine make upon being killed is great.

Squad mechincs? HL isnt a squad shooter. Why should it jump on the bandwagon? COD, Bioshock, Crysis, Halo 3 arent squad based shooters....

The game is advancing. From HL1 to 2 was phenominal, Ep1 and Ep2 are just steps fowards though - its epsodic conent, what else do you expect. Of course a fully fleged sequal should be a stride foward, but thats what the episodes arent.

i dont think you understood what i meant on a few things. i meant the enemies squads. you run into 4 or 5 at a time and they should act like a group instead of all standing facing you shooting. and by reacting to fire i meant you cant staggar an enemy or make them drop to a knee or their shoulder blow back or anything. they just stand there taking damage until they die all the while shooting at you.

yes i agree the flatlining sound is one of the coolest things in a shooter ever.

exactly. honestly its not the graphics. id be fine if everything was the same except fear style ai. and for the love of god enemies need to die after realistic amount of damage is done, headshots = instant kills and when you lay a shotgun into their chest and they dont die they at least need to drop for a few seconds or staggar back. fix taht and ill call the game a 10.

blues3531

[QUOTE="blues3531"]

exactly. honestly its not the graphics. id be fine if everything was the same except fear style ai. and for the love of god enemies need to die after realistic amount of damage is done, headshots = instant kills and when you lay a shotgun into their chest and they dont die they at least need to drop for a few seconds or staggar back. fix taht and ill call the game a 10.

skrat_01

yea i know what you mean but if you played fear or any other shooter since then you shoot an enemy and they react to it besides in death. they stagger, drop to their knees, fall down some times, arms fly back, they grab their wounds. i wish this stuff was in half life 2.

Theoretically it was fine when these episodes were suppose to come out six months apart, thereby completing the HL2 saga by midway 2006 while the gameplay was rather fresh. Right now it's the middle of 2008, we still haven't heard of any real concrete evidence for Episode 3, and HL2 on the Source Engine is straining to keep up with today's FPSs. Artificial Intelligence and gunplay/gameplay are constantly evolving in the genre, and the only thing that got Episode 2 by was really the story. Valve need to hurry the hell up. Crytek, Ubisoft, Monolith and DICE are upping the ante in the near future. The successor to Source needs to be future-proof, but this time I seriously doubt Valve can get away with cinematic immersiveness alone a la Half Life 2. This time around, they really need to inject some "new" into the gameplay.FrozenLiquid

Though yea they do need to start working a full project. Sure all the community stuff is nice, but they are overdue for a next 'big' title.

yea i know what you mean but if you played fear or any other shooter since then you shoot an enemy and they react to it besides in death. they stagger, drop to their knees, fall down some times, arms fly back, they grab their wounds. i wish this stuff was in half life 2.

blues3531

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"]Theoretically it was fine when these episodes were suppose to come out six months apart, thereby completing the HL2 saga by midway 2006 while the gameplay was rather fresh. Right now it's the middle of 2008, we still haven't heard of any real concrete evidence for Episode 3, and HL2 on the Source Engine is straining to keep up with today's FPSs. Artificial Intelligence and gunplay/gameplay are constantly evolving in the genre, and the only thing that got Episode 2 by was really the story. Valve need to hurry the hell up. Crytek, Ubisoft, Monolith and DICE are upping the ante in the near future. The successor to Source needs to be future-proof, but this time I seriously doubt Valve can get away with cinematic immersiveness alone a la Half Life 2. This time around, they really need to inject some "new" into the gameplay.skrat_01

Though yea they do need to start working a full project. Sure all the community stuff is nice, but they are overdue for a next 'big' title.

Disagree. It's perhaps the most refined version of the old FPS formula with which Half Life is using. If this were a new IP and developer instead of the Half Life title slapped onto it as well as Valve's name behind it, I think it wouldn't have hit the top tier critical acclaim. It's like trying to refine the archaic point-and-click system in adventure games. Perhaps the Longest Journey may have gotten away with a 10 year old system, but it wouldn't be able to compete with Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy, which is essentially the evolution of the Grim Fandango formula. I think Episode 2 is a fine example of interactive storytelling, but it sort of left the game behind, which is why I don't consider it the creme of the crop of current-gen FPSs. I believe video games, to proceed as a craft, should not concentrate on the 'high art' (story, themes etc) that literature and film thrive on. Those are the fundamentals of those respective mediums. It is not the fundamental of video games. If it were to play the most pivotal role in a video game, then the adventure genre would be the pinnacle of the medium. Mass Effect would also be considered one of the greatest RPGs ever. Quite frankly, both of those statements are false. Half Life 2 and Episode 1 were on the right track with the implementation of story telling. Episode 2 was almost verging on Metal Gear Solid territory. There is only so much you can do with the current HL formula, and I think they're almost stretching it with Episode 2. I could see things picking up bigger and badder, but it was restrained by a 2004 system. Look where they're going with sandbox FPS games now (perhaps exclude Crysis since it's not really a sandbox). They're doing incredible things. Just imagine what they could do with the next level of corridor FPSs.FrozenLiquid

I disagree again, while im sure the hype and name may of affected scores - like any heavily hyped and marketed game, even if it was a new IP it would have scored well..... Simply because its a great game.

Indeed HL2 Ep2 is a great example of interactive storytelling, though i disagree, compared to almost every other game in the genre its streets ahead. Only Bioshock is a game that is as good, or arguably better - for its own reasons. I dont see why games shouldent cross paths with 'high art' themes. While of course with games a blance must be found between good game design and such themes, games like Facade really do bend the two. Problem is video games are still in their infancy, and there is still alot of evolving and progress to be done.

Indeed HL2 and Ep1s storytelling was 'right on track', whyso not Episode 2?..... Its storytelling was much less elegant than HL2, but never the less it was still very very good. Honestly im not sure how it 'verges on being like MGS2'..... If anything its quite different in many ways, though yes it does have its wtf moments like MGS2, which while confusing add a sense of intruige and exitement of the unknown. Perhaps the worst thing about the story was that Alyx's character was significantly weakened - she became a dependant, rather than a very independant strong character from hl2 and ep1. Having her wounded in the first ten minutes did ruin it somewhat, although it did make a huge personal impact on the player (if they had played Hl2 and ep1).

THough yes its about time HL made a larger jump, and after Episode 3 Valve seems adament to do so. Im interested in the direction they would possibly take, and indeed non linear seems like one, and perhaps Ep3 might give more of a taste of it, larger than bite size in Episode 2. I wouldent say its current forumla has aged - in a bad way - yet but yes all the refining in the world isnt going to save it, and im pretty sure the devs know that as well.

[QUOTE="xxThyLordxx"]

I found HL2 really boring, after all the hype. I bought The Orange Box, and I was disappointed. The only thing that made me keep on playing it, was the music, 'Sector Sweep'. that track owns. anyone knows how I can get it?

metroidprime_1

You don't even need Limewire. The Orange Box Soundtrack is free as a part of Audiosurf, demo version included. ;)

The combine are the most satisfying enemies i've killed in any shooter, it doesnt take an obscene amount of bullets to take them down, burst fire headshots with the smg usually does the trick.

Now Bioshock, there is a game with real damage sponge enemies.

^^

the combine arent human, a head shot doesnt have to kill them.

^^

the combine arent human, a head shot doesnt have to kill them.

samusarmada

[QUOTE="samusarmada"]

^^

the combine arent human, a head shot doesnt have to kill them.

Taalon

well yeah :?