Half-Life 2 Impressions (Possible Spoilers)

[th'FOOL]

This is my game of the year, hands down, no question.  I don't remember the last time I got this giddy over a game.  Every little thing in it is just AWESOME.

[ravenvii]

Subtitles can be turned on of off. They are off by default.

The game (like CS:Source) supports widescreen displays as well.

Oh excellent! Subtitles-less games is the bane of my existence. I hated Half-Life for that sole reason.

I applaud Valve for putting subtitles in this one. I'm sold. It'll have to wait until next week however, I left my PC at home.

[Eco-Logic]

Subtitles can be turned on of off. They are off by default.

The game (like CS:Source) supports widescreen displays as well.

Oh excellent! Subtitles-less games is the bane of my existence. I hated Half-Life for that sole reason.

I applaud Valve for putting subtitles in this one. I'm sold. It'll have to wait until next week however, I left my PC at home.

You have a hearing disability Raven?  Just curious.  I'm glad the subtitles are on it to, it seems like it should be a no-brainer.

[Shifter]

I've been at work all day and wouln't get to play the game until I get home, so frustrating.  This thread is like a car wreck, I don't want to look (jealousy) but I can't turn away either.

[whiteboyskim]

I know the feeling. I took the game back and made a swap (since the 4th disc crapped out on me) then spent 10 minutes trying to get my car started again. As such, my car is now in the shop, I'm stuck at work and haven't eaten yet since I had to walk back from the Firestone where it's at, and HL2 is sitting on my desk mocking me. GAHH!!!!

[Eco-Logic]

I unlocked it during my lunch break and played for about 15 minutes.  Wow.  I'm absolutely floored by how great the game is.  I can't believe how awesome the npc animations are and I can't wait to get home and play more.  2.5 more hours.

[Jeff]

I did the 'first 15 minutes' thing too.  um ... wow.  This has been mentioned, but the lighting is amazing. I'm very glad I have a DX9 card for this one.

p4 2.8
1 gb pc3200
radeon 9800

buttery smooth at 1024x768 4x AA, 8x AF. It blows Doom3 away in performance, and possibly looks even better too.

[dangerballs]

I stay up to unlock the game this morning at 2am.  So, I decided I would play a bit before I went to bed.  Next thing I know I have to pee and then I look down and its 6:30am.   :shock:  The game is that immersive.

[Caine]

i love that the game has widescreen settings.  looks awesome on this laptop and plays great.  i haven't been able to get very far in this as sleep grabbed me early last night after the unlock and work has me in it's claws now, but the game runs very smoothly and does not have any hitches in performance.  i hope to see it this well during heavy action sequences.  

glad that my laptop can handle the game as well as it does.  i was curious if the 9700 would be enough to cut it.

dell xps
3.4 p4 800fsb
1gb 3200 dual channel
mobile 9700 pro 128mb.  

also, how does steam handle multiple installs?  if i put this on my pc, can i run hl2 there as well?  obviosly not going to work any mp like cs this way, but if i want to use the bigger machine, will it let me have two instances of steam at the same time?

[Interloper]

BAH!  I bought and installed the game, set up a steam account, and tried to play.  It wants me to login to steam.  OK, I try but it fails, over and over, it fails.  Just let me play the damn game I paid for!   I rebooted my comp even, no good. :evil:

[Animus]

Grr. Fourth disc is crapping out on me too. Tried it on my older (crappier) computer and it works so I'm not sure it's the disc. I've tried it three times on the one I want to install it on and every time get the error on disc 4. Is this some kind of known error...?

[whiteboyskim]

Was it looking for a specific .cab file and if so which one?

[Valael]

I foolishly logged out of Steam for some reason, and now I can't get back in.  Lovely.  Oh well, I  have a speech to be working on.

[Sparhawk]

Ditto. Can't login to steam to unlock.  

[Animus]

Was it looking for a specific .cab file and if so which one?

"Cannot find hl2.ico1 in hl24.cab" or something worded like that. I found something in Sierra's tech support that indiciates this happens when you try to install w/out CS Source, which I was doing (lack of HD space). Says you have to install both then go back and remove CSS through Steam. Trying to clear enough room now and will report back...

[whiteboyskim]

Well, crap I have enough room on my harddrive maybe I did something wrong this morning? Quite possible. Think I'll go back, uninstall Steam, then start from scratch. If that doesn't work, then I guess I could work on cleaning the house or playing Halo ..... wait, am I actually comparing the two?

[lildrgn]

i love that the game has widescreen settings.  looks awesome on this laptop and plays great.  i haven't been able to get very far in this as sleep grabbed me early last night after the unlock and work has me in it's claws now, but the game runs very smoothly and does not have any hitches in performance.  i hope to see it this well during heavy action sequences.  

glad that my laptop can handle the game as well as it does.  i was curious if the 9700 would be enough to cut it.

dell xps
3.4 p4 800fsb
1gb 3200 dual channel
mobile 9700 pro 128mb.  

also, how does steam handle multiple installs?  if i put this on my pc, can i run hl2 there as well?  obviosly not going to work any mp like cs this way, but if i want to use the bigger machine, will it let me have two instances of steam at the same time?

I would think multiple installs are a no-no. Uninstall from first cpu, reinstall to second, no problem. But at the same time? Expect a call from Gabe himself.

[Animus]

Alright, tried the install again with CSS included and it worked fine. If anyone's getting that cab error on the 4th disc and you weren't installing CSS, give that a try. Now if freakin Steam would work.  :evil:

[Animus]

i love that the game has widescreen settings.  looks awesome on this laptop and plays great.  i haven't been able to get very far in this as sleep grabbed me early last night after the unlock and work has me in it's claws now, but the game runs very smoothly and does not have any hitches in performance.  i hope to see it this well during heavy action sequences.  

glad that my laptop can handle the game as well as it does.  i was curious if the 9700 would be enough to cut it.

dell xps
3.4 p4 800fsb
1gb 3200 dual channel
mobile 9700 pro 128mb.  

also, how does steam handle multiple installs?  if i put this on my pc, can i run hl2 there as well?  obviosly not going to work any mp like cs this way, but if i want to use the bigger machine, will it let me have two instances of steam at the same time?

I would think multiple installs are a no-no. Uninstall from first cpu, reinstall to second, no problem. But at the same time? Expect a call from Gabe himself.

Multiple installs are fine; here's the line direct from Steam's website:

Yes, you can use your Steam account on as many different computers as you like - but only one at a time!

For example, you could use your account on your work computer during the day, and on your home computer at night.  On the weekend, you could even use it at a friend's house. Steam will automatically download all of your games to whatever computer you are currently logged in on, and your Friends list will be automatically duplicated on that machine.

If you have multiple Steam accounts on one computer, they will all share the core set of downloaded games, but each user's game configurations and any custom content will have to be copied or transferred.

You just can't use a single Steam account on two or more computers simultaneously.

[Caine]

that's what i figured lildrgn, but i wanted to check with everyone here.  i have it on my laptop as i was at work when i decided to buy it over steam and start the pre-load.  as it was not possible to back up what i had with steam and resume loading at home, i just went with what i had.  it's ok, my laptop is running this just fine.  action scenes and all.  started up the kanal escape and all is good.  on the plus side, this laptop has a nice hibernation mode and hl2 should work just fine with that.  

oh how i wish i had a more private office instead of where i'm at.  my back is to the door and people are always walking by here, if not coming to see me directly.

[Eco-Logic]

Steam kind of rocks if you ask me

[Sparhawk]

It rocks when it works. Servers being hammered and I cannot login to unlock my already paid for product.

[Caine]

oh cool, thanks animus for that.

[Laner]

oh how i wish i had a more private office instead of where i'm at.  my back is to the door and people are always walking by here, if not coming to see me directly.

Heh - yeah, my boss asked why my door was closed this morning.

[Jeff]

I feel like a doofus here.

I'm in the first courtyard... the big tower in the middle with the Big Brother dude soothingly giving his speech... and I don't know where to go!

[Gryndyl]

I feel like a doofus here.

I'm in the first courtyard... the big tower in the middle with the Big Brother dude soothingly giving his speech... and I don't know where to go!

Explore

[Eco-Logic]

Yea, just look around Jeff, you'll find it eventually.  Look up.

[whiteboyskim]

Hey gang, if you can't unlock the game during your install, what happens? Do you have to completely reinstall again or is it just a "try again later" type of thing?

[Sparhawk]

I think try again later.

[Fafhrd]

I have only a Single Complaint about this game. VERY SLOW load times. Go to a new area and BAM! 45 second to 1.3 Minute wait.  Maybe it takes less time if you have more memory but Ive only got 512 megs.

Oh btw thats One complaint with Over 12 hours of game time logged. This Game ROCKS!, except for the load time.

[Xmann]

ya Jeff just look around a bit and you'll figure it out.  Just remember the good ole' fps stratagies of places to climb to and things to jump on or around.

[lildrgn]

I feel like a doofus here.

I'm in the first courtyard... the big tower in the middle with the Big Brother dude soothingly giving his speech... and I don't know where to go!

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[mikeg]

I can't login into steam's authentication servers.  $60 for nothing.

[Gryndyl]

Well, one of my roommates has been sitting at home all day playing my copy of HL2. He's not a particularly hard core gamer but loves first person shooters. In any case he just e-mailed me his 1st impressions... (language warning-he's an ex-marine).


"This game fucking rocks dude. I mean, god damn.. I just jizzed thinking about it."


So I think that about sums it up  

[mikeg]

I have tried for the last 1/2 hour to create a steam account so that I can play this game and every time I try I get this 900 character message saying connection reset, winsock error xxxxxxxxx etc etc etc etc etc etc.  

Yeah, this game rocks.  : (

[farley2k]

I have tried for the last 1/2 hour to create a steam account so that I can play this game and every time I try I get this 900 character message saying connection reset, winsock error xxxxxxxxx etc etc etc etc etc etc.  

Yeah, this game rocks.  : (

I got that as well the first couple times.

I thought maybe it was becuase the answer to my secret question was "fuck you valve"  (I really hope I get to call them sometime and answer that question)

[Gryndyl]

Well, it seems that Steam's authentication stinks but that the game is very good.  Yes, they certainly should have been better prepared for this.  I'm glad I waited up last night and authenticated then-I never turn my computer off and always just leave steam up and going so I'm not going to have to deal with the log-in server when I get home

[farley2k]

Well, it seems that Steam's authentication stinks but that the game is very good.  Yes, they certainly should have been better prepared for this.  I'm glad I waited up last night and authenticated then-I never turn my computer off and always just leave steam up and going so I'm not going to have to deal with the log-in server when I get home

I think that is a fair assesment.

What confuses me is this isn't the first time their have been hints that Steam has problems.  I remember when it first was put out and people bitched.  The optimistic said "oh it is just beta! It will be so much better when it is fully released" etc.  That doesn't appear to have been the case.

[Jeff]

Impressions:

thanks to those who gave me the pointer to move on and "look up" ... found it :oops:  

Ok, now I've played more...

:shock:  mother of god, is this game AMAZING!  In so many ways, the graphics, the sound, the physics, the voice acting, the pacing... the ENVIROMENT. Wow, wow, wow.  

I'm seriously in awe.  This is one phenomenal piece of work.

[ChrisGwinn]

I really have no complaints.  None at all.  If I stop and try I can come up with things like "It would be nice if I couldn't notice the autosaving" or "I wish load times were a little shorter".  But really, this is a great game.