Overly Chatty Penguins

The Ready Room => Off Topic => Topic started by: duherman on November 21, 2004, 08:45:03 PM

Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: duherman on November 21, 2004, 08:45:03 PM
I was really dissapointed of not seeing everything i saw in those blink videos in the game. For example I was looking forward to playing in traptown which is Ravenholm and same with that Docks level. It looks like the hydra didnt make it into the game aswell. Well Half-Life 2 was good but it could of been better.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Anarki3x6 on November 21, 2004, 09:46:52 PM
yeah really, only things i didnt like about it was...

1) too short
2) coulda added tons more stuff(like the said stuff from the demo movies)
3) /me wants hl2 deathmatch >:x
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 21, 2004, 10:19:28 PM
don't yell at valve...yell at the whining SOBs in the steam forums...
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Keyser59 on November 21, 2004, 10:28:51 PM
The ending was a bit weak for my liking. Other than that I really have no complaints.

(The story ending, not the silver grav gun)
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 21, 2004, 10:37:21 PM
I only missed not seeing any bull squids :p
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Anarki3x6 on November 22, 2004, 06:14:52 AM
and and those little exploding dogs that i like to shotgun in the face >:(
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: esuna on November 22, 2004, 11:03:52 AM
People are too hung up on those videos. Barring the Hydra, pretty much everything was in the games.

Trap town was a physics demo, it would have been weak otherwise. Also, what was refreshing was not having to play through the likes of trap town purely because you'd know what to do, the fun is finding it out yourself.

But Ravenholm was virtually unchanged, same with the tenements and a whole bunch of other things.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Malevolent on November 22, 2004, 11:25:33 AM
Well, it's explained why the hydra isn't in the game. It was way too hard to kill because it was fast, and the AI was good. I do wish they would of had the dock sequence though.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 22, 2004, 02:07:59 PM
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People are too hung up on those videos. Barring the Hydra, pretty much everything was in the games.
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What about the scene where the strider bursts through the wall of dr. kliener's lab? That movie was awesome, i was waiting for that but it never happened :/
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: duherman on November 22, 2004, 02:35:06 PM
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don't yell at valve...yell at the whining SOBs in the steam forums...
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Yah it feels like they rushed to finished the game. They should of ignored the whiners and continued to work on it
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: confused! on November 22, 2004, 03:33:18 PM
i really wanted to spend more time crshig people in teh citdeli felt like tha tpart in particular was wvery rushed feeling. that might have been the uter ownage imhad achieved though.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Malevolent on November 22, 2004, 04:05:04 PM
Well Confused, they didn't want to take the chance of people getting bored since you kept doing the same thing over and over again. It was just about right for me. Now that I have beat the game, I'm dissapointed that there really are no answers to who the Combine are. And the G-Man is ever more mysterious being able to stop an explosion. So it was all a test. This can mean it was A ) never real from the beginning or B ) actually true, and Gordon went though it. I think it is choice B since, "organizations" were interested in him afterwards, and why would they be interested if it was only some sort of simulation? I really want a sequel now.

EDIT: It made a smiley where there shouldn't be one...
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: ANeM on November 22, 2004, 04:48:03 PM
while I wasn't too dissapointed with HL2s story, it could lead to dissapointment...

I mean, for all we know HL3 could pull a matrix and pretty much leave a crap load of questions unanswered and the questions it does answer could, well.. the answers could lame =/
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: confused! on November 22, 2004, 06:25:06 PM
i was thinking prior to the weapon strip part you know battel you way along in the low security areas fora  bit or perhaps even a section on sneaking, i dont know i know that sneaking sections usually suck, but i think that with the environemtn that they had in there it could have turned into a sort of we are infiltrating the death star part instead of let me ride over the rails of coolness.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: DiscoZombie on November 22, 2004, 08:13:37 PM
I finally finished it, and I think I'm the only one who wasn't floored by the game.  yes, it was very pretty.  yes, the physics are neat (though don't seem all that much different than, say, UT2k4).  the physics are also overplayed.  UT uses its physics without making the game's most important gun shoot gravity.  some of the random, weird physics puzzles, while interesting, took me out of the mood of the game (why is this pully set up so that I need to push this washing machine into it to raise a ramp?  why do I need to fill this underwater basket with air barrels to raise another ramp?  speaking of which, how can a man pull a huge barrel filled with air underwater without floating to the surface?)  

I didn't feel like there was enough variety to the enemies either.  let's see, 3 varieties of headcrabs, 3 associated varieties of zombies (2 of those varieties very rare), combine soldiers in various skins, and a couple novelty enemies - walkers and gunships.  to generalize, combine, headcrabs, and zombies are basically all you fight for 90% of the game - and combine for 70% of that 90%.  I was at the point where I couldn't bear to look at or hear another damn combine soldier by the end.  doom 3 tried to keep up with the variety of enemies, and for that I'm glad.  they'd gradually introduce each new monster and each new gun, and let you bask in it for a while.  

doom 3 kept me much more scared than HL2 too.  people say ravenholm was scary; I just found it one of the more annoying areas.  instead of waves of combine I was wading through waves of zombies.  big whoop.  

as I've already basically said, the combine areas really dragged on for me.  I couldn't wait for the damn prison to end.  "oh boy, in this room there are 3 turrets instead of 2, such variety".

it felt like the game was just one long string of gimmicks.  the gravity first of all.  the vehicles.  the squads.  weapons and enemies - the meat and potatoes of any FPS - were the weak points... I already went into the enemies, and the guns were very generic as well.  they really didn't have to rehash the HL1 weapons for the sake of nostalgia...

my favorite chapter was the highway... because it was relatively slow-paced.  it wasn't just an endless string of combine pouring at me.  it was a few quiet villages strung together that I had to clear and explore, with plenty of time to admire the scenery...

the dialogue scenes were also awesome.  if like 3 more hours of dialogue were stuck in there instead of 3 hours of shooting generic soldiers, I'd probably be raving along with everyone else... but in the end, we're left knowing little we didn't know at the end of HL1...

I'm definitely not saying it's anything close to being a bad game.  I liked it a lot.  it just got really tedious for me at times, such that I could never bring myself to play it for more than about 2 hours at a time.  I think the sweet dialogue scenes just managed to set me up for disappointment, because they made me wish I had a 'party member' with me at all times, talking to me while I shot stuff, at least to break up the monotony...

anyway, if I were planning a mod right now, it'd be for the HL2 engine.  however as far as single player retail FPS games go, HL1 and Halo still beat out HL2 in my mind, as far as fun factor goes.  I'm done ranting, especially since no one's going to even remotely agree with me :)
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Diablus on November 22, 2004, 09:26:37 PM
actually I do agree with you on most points. Especially the lack of diversity of enemies.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Ulatoh on November 22, 2004, 10:00:24 PM
my only critiques:

1.) one of the perks of hl1 was all the wierd ass weapons... that was awesome

2) monster variety: Sandlions, 3 headcrabs, 3 zombies, strider, gunship,combine, barnacles... thats it?  also, there were no minibosses... i liked the pit levels in hl1 and opfor.

3.) not enough of the story explained, HL spent lots of time explaining the story... this didnt

4.) too short:  Call me crazy, hl1 was awesome because of the expansiveness of it. It deepened the sense of awe and environment when you're battling through black mesa for HOURS, coming to abandoned cafeterias, old meatlockers, abandoned tramways... it makes the place seem HUGE and really emmersed you.

BIGGEST COMPLAINT:  lack of storyline

BIGGEST PERK: Gun that shoots gravity.  say what you want... Gravgun RAWKS! physics RAWK!
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 23, 2004, 11:30:48 AM
There was a miniboss actually, the helicopter in the boat part...while not much of one, it was still a miniboss.

Also, the puzzles could've been much worse, they could've been jumping puzzles instead of physics puzzles.

The traps in ravenholm were not very interesting beyond the whole car crusher thing, it made it feel like ravenholm was hased together quickly just to get it in the game. Still, they did give you a sense of how much time father gregory has put into "tending to his flock"

As for the enemy variation...well there usually arent many enemy types in fps games, hl2 has 4 types of combine soldiers, 3 types of headcrabs, 3 types of zombies, 4 vehicular enemies of quite large size, plus the barnacles. Sounds like enough for a basic FPS to me. I suppose they did have those 2 models they left unused in hl2, the ichylsaur and the bullsquid (yes theyre in the models, just not in the game). Houndeyes are useless and do 2 damage...who needs em. In fact, HL1 has more fighting soldiers than HL2 does so i don't know what the big deal is.

I will admit the game as a whole can feel gimmicky but think about it, it really is just a giant source engine demo, and valve did a good job of that. The fact that it's also a nice fps is just becuase the engine is so good.

Also, wtf? Ut2k4 having good physics that add to the game?? Their physics are crap!! The vehicles have no real physics at all, they fly like 20 miles from a single gun shot, the ragdoll is sub-par and they never used ther karma physics for anything remotely close to what it COULD do! comparing the physics of hl2 with ut2k4 is like comparing the lighting of doom3 to HL1...

In any event, some people will hate it, some people will love it. I think considering all that stood in the way of this game and the source engine Valve did a damn good job.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: A Boojum Snark on November 23, 2004, 12:23:47 PM
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Houndeyes are useless and do 2 damage...who needs em.
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They do more than 2 damage, and the only thing valve failed with on them was having packs of maybe 3-4 max. I've found that 10 or so houndeyes can level you in a few seconds. :)
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Uranium - 235 on November 23, 2004, 02:30:01 PM
HL2 was not a source demo. Doom 3 was a doom 3 engine demo, that's what id DOES. HL2 was a game that FELT like a source demo.

The game was short, the entire 'plot' felt like Matrix (First one makes you want more and see what happens, second one doesn't do ^^ but leave you with the same unanswered questions, plus some new, terrible, plot-hole-type questions).
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Diablus on November 23, 2004, 08:13:29 PM
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In fact, HL1 has more fighting soldiers than HL2 does so i don't know what the big deal is.



Well the only Aliens you battle against are the barnacles (which arent even a fight..) headcrabs, Antlions and zombies (AND those leeches if you swim out too far away from the antlinos which own you in a matter of seconds so theres really no fight on your part... there just in as map boundaries). THATS IT...  in Hl1 you had a crapload of alien species encounters which made the game diverse. Sure the majority of encounters were basically Marines and their technology but the fact that the alien unit diversity made the game feel... more expanded in a way....

As for the leeches, it would have been better to have Ickys attack you instead. :D
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 23, 2004, 11:11:01 PM
how is that more diverse in any way? It was always the samne damn alien slaves and alien grunts over and over mixed in with the marines, same as any other fps would have it. I found the enemy encounters just as interesting if not more exiting now due to the AI and the fact that the combine actually try to take cover and work together. Whats really evil is how some of them can even deploy manhacks to screw you up :p
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: esuna on November 24, 2004, 04:01:49 PM
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3.) not enough of the story explained, HL spent lots of time explaining the story... this didnt
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The story was there and it was explained, it just wasn't spoon fed to you. There were only a few things that were left unexplained (Breen's involvement, chiefly, and the "benefactor's" want with earth).

The combine were explained, the story as you went along was explained, GMan and Gordon's relationship was explained, etc.

The clues and information is there, it's just not thrown into cutscenes saying "Ok! The combine are humans!" They let you work it out yourself, and i really liked that, to be honest.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Uranium - 235 on November 24, 2004, 10:35:57 PM
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3.) not enough of the story explained, HL spent lots of time explaining the story... this didnt
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The story was there and it was explained, it just wasn't spoon fed to you. There were only a few things that were left unexplained (Breen's involvement, chiefly, and the "benefactor's" want with earth).

The combine were explained, the story as you went along was explained, GMan and Gordon's relationship was explained, etc.

The clues and information is there, it's just not thrown into cutscenes saying "Ok! The combine are humans!" They let you work it out yourself, and i really liked that, to be honest.
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That's a really bad way of 'telling' the story though, since people make retarded assumptions about it. "But what about the orange lambda signs! Obviously they indicate a relationship with Xen as they try to help Gordon out, because as you can PLAINLY see in this map, there's a piece of wood covering a poster with alien letters on it, which is OBVIOUSLY indicative that God is real."
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Cheez on November 25, 2004, 07:42:20 AM
That's nothin', a guy on the steam forums thought people were eating headcrabs for food because father gregory says he needs to "tend to his flock"....

good lord.... :rolleyes:
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: sonic on November 25, 2004, 09:50:00 AM
Hey now, headcrab might taste nice.
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Malevolent on November 25, 2004, 09:53:34 AM
Yes, eating a headcrab wouldn't kill you...
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Diablus on November 25, 2004, 10:07:02 AM
Unless its a poisonous headcrab...
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: Malevolent on November 25, 2004, 01:35:09 PM
There was some sarcasm in my statement there. ;)
Title: Hl2 Dissapointments
Post by: EmperorPenguin on November 27, 2004, 12:28:42 AM
I will agree that the ending is a deep-down-dirty cliffhanger that was just so darned anti-climactic.  HL was a little unsatisfying in that, though you did a good thing, you still got stuck in limbo on a stupid train car.

HL2, you don't even get to figure out exactly what it was you did.  No word on the fate of the citadel, or Alyx, or City 17, or anything!  I mean, when you killed the Nihilanth you knew you had done good.  I don't know what the hell I did when I blew up the portal!

The Matrix comparisons are unnervingly accurate in some points.  If HL3 ends up anything like Revolutions, I may just have to kill myself.