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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
Okay, it's now been "released". Anyone able to play it? 
This has to be the worst installation system I've ever used. Steam always sounded a bad idea to me, and I guess the proof is in the pudding. The registration process is a horrendous online Flash 6 monstrosity, so anyone without an Internet connection is out of luck. Oh, didn't think you'd need an Internet connection to play a single-player game? Guess again!
It requires you to list the game you've purchased - but doesn't give Half-Life 2 as an option. Um? I do own one game on the list (StarCraft), so I've managed to get past that.
The privacy policy is draconian, and the data they wish to collect far-reaching. Email address, house address, post code, operating system, consoles owned, details about your first born... Hold on a minute there, did he say first-born? Yep, they want to know that as well.
And, to add insult to injury, when you get to the end it just crashes out, pops up a pathetic "Please try again" error message, and locks the Flash application entirely. Nice. A lot of thought went into error handling there, then.
So, we skip the registration-as-part-of-installation bit, and worry about it later. I mean, registration isn't exactly required now, is it...? Oops. Yes, it is.
So here I am, after spending £45 on a game Valve/Vivendi won't let me play, staring at a window reading "Steam - working", and wondering if there ever were a better oxymoron than that.
*sigh*
It saddens me to see companies abusing their customers, as if we should be grateful that they treat us in this way. Consumers these days expect bugs, and simply shrug and put up with it. They aren't surprised to be blocked from enjoying a product they purchased with their hard-earned cash.
Me, I've just about had it with these people. End of tether rapidly approaching...
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Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:37 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
Gonna pick it up on my way home tonight. I'll post me experiences.
You'll likely be in bed by then though...
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IMHO my opinion is humble |
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Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:05 pm |
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MoonDragon
High Emperor
Joined: 25 May 2002
Posts: 1254
Location: Waterloo, Canada |
I bought the silver package over Steam a while back (wanted to play CS:S). Aside from not asking me where I want stuff installed (it installs into Steam directory) I've not had a single problem. I preloaded HL2 couple of weeks back and last night at around 2:45EST Steam started to unlock my HL2 files. Went to bed and got up around 7:15. Booted up the game no problem. Ran it beautifully.
The game is nothing short of incredible. I played it for only about an hour or so, but... my God! I don't know what the reviewers that complain about non-originality are smoking, but this is a sequel, and it does everything the original did, but better.
But the level of immersivness in this game is beyond belief. The live facial expressions on the NPCs are not to be believed until you see them. You will start walking up to people and watching their faces as they speak. Their eyeballs move around and focus on things they are talking about or interested in. The motion of the NPCs is so smooth and life-like it's spooky. The physics engine is not something we've all just been hearing about to make the game pretty. It actually works! Things break. Fall like they should. If something you see in game would make sense in real life, chances are it makes sense in the game. Some baddies standing over a wooden platform that happens to have something flammable underneath it? Shoot the flammable stuff, not the baddies. 
The level of detail in this game is stunning. I actually felt bad when the action started because I wanted to pause and explore. Unfortunately with bullets whizzing by it was a bit difficult.
The best part though (this may vary for other people), I run it on:
AthlonXP 1600+ (slightly overclocked)
1Gb RAM
Radeon 9600XT 256
SB Audigy
Old HDD
I run it at just about max quality settings (except AA runs at 2x, and AF at 2x) in 800x600 resolution and the game looks incredible. No real slowdowns as I run through gorgeous water, in a very open area, with a bunch of AI guys running around and funky sounds coming from all over the place.
If you played the original and thought it was even slightly amusing, I'd recommend this one. This game and the mods that will follow will break new ground in the gaming industry.
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Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:17 pm |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Well, cmf, that sounds bloody horrible, I hope you can get it sorted soon. And £45?? whew!
Sounds good Moon Dragon, glad someone is able to play it. Those specs are heartening, that should mean I can play it at full detail. Fingers crossed... although I am thinking of a new graphics card later this month anyway. Maybe...
I'm really looking forward to that facial animation (among other things, naturally ), I saw the stuff in the movies and that looked great - but what I'm really looking forward to is seeing how other developers use it in games that focus more on character interaction (particularly Arx Fatalis and any other RPGs that may use it). Used properly, it could make a big difference to NPC interaction and to the kind of emotional involvement you get from a game (the best example I know on this front is probably Planescape:Torment, which acheived great emotional involvement with the NPCs by its writing; I'd love to see a game that can acheive similar results, but in a more movie-like way, ie visually with the "actors").
Anyway, I'm looking forward to it as a game, as well as a showcase of fancy new technology and techniques. I'll probably order it today from Play.com, unless I can find somewhere cheaper... |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 12:26 am |
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MageofFire
Griller of Molerats
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 1594
Location: Monastery of Innos |
I'll probably just pick up a boxed copy of the game, so as not to go through any "Steam" hassle. From what I hear (and I hear a lot), the game is supposed to be better than sex once you get it running. 
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OMG! WTF?! MONKEYS!!!!
=Member of numerous usergroups=
=Active in none of them=
Mediocreties, I absolve you! |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 1:22 am |
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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
Well, after lots of attempts and many, many connection timeouts... I finally got it working! It eventually gave in, basically saying "we'll let you run it for now, but you'll need to register it later to keep it running".
Yes, had time for a quick go, and it really is a good game. Gonna have to get some sleep now, but I'm sure I'll be playing it tomorrow evening! Three chapters in, no real difficulty yet - but it is very exciting.
Mage, sorry, but you're out of luck there - the boxed set will require some Steam interaction as well.
Near as I can work out, if you buy it through Steam you get a licence to play it, and need to download however many gigs it is before you can play. The boxed edition also gives you a licence to play it, and the installation from DVD is basically a shortcut for the download part - you'll still need to register with Steam, add it to your library, give them your CD key etc before it can be unlocked.
It's an interesting new concept in game deployment, and it looks like it might even be the future for the industry. But that doesn't excuse Valve/Vivendi for releasing (arguably) the biggest game of the year, world-wide, on the same day - not having put enough money into the support systems to guarantee all those customers hassle-free activation.
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Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 2:59 am |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
After reading about you guys playing it, my brain has been sending me Homer-Simpson-style communications to "buy Half Life 2, buy Half Life 2, buy Half Life 2...." etc, etc. and I've just managed to stop myself from going online and ordering it... because I can't remember what you get with the boxed version vs. the online version. Does it make any difference which I go for? |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:36 am |
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Hexy
High Emperor
Joined: 28 Jun 2002
Posts: 621
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I agree the installation process is horrid, but it's FAR niceer with the box-version. Oh well, that's where pirating has gotten us.
The game is so-so. It looks good, but the story is like old Half-Life, just in a new setting, so far there's just been too many questions and far too few answers. |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:14 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I've had my ATI Steam thingy up and running for a few months and the pre-load files quietly streamed in several weeks ago. I restarted Steam about 5 mins after the activation went live last night and it ticked away, unlocking in ~10 mins. Totally painless and worked flawlessly...I feel sorry for those who had trouble.
The game itself...Wow. Just...wow. There needs to be a new word for "innovation"...Half Life 2 refines the genre so much that "evolution" is just not adequate, even if "innovation" isn't quite right, either.
I've had physics in several other games: it was nice in Max Payne 2, totally useless in Deus Ex: Invisible War but OH MY GOD does it complement the gameplay in HL2. I don't think I could play a shooter that didn't have these physics and be satisfied again. The art is stunning: Fallout / post-apoc fans should give it a go for the suburb decayed Eastern Europe/end-of-the-world atmosphere, which is superb.
It is very linear and other quibbles, but frankly, the action and pacing make these irrelevant - anyone who enjoys action games needs to play it.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:59 am |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
It's still resting in a box in our store... I was out of town, business-wise, came back last night, and haven't been able to unpack it yet. I hope I'll like it, we'll see. If all else fails, I'll play it for Barney.
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Jaz |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:17 am |
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Wulf
The Shepherd
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England |
I was a bit unsure about buying this game, i thought to wait a bit longer to get some feedback, seeing as the installation problems might be of some problem. Glad to see cmfdobbie got it working o.k.
It will only install from a dvd-rom (not a cd-rom) so i will have to finally get a new dvd-unit.
@piln, theres a "game" shop in your area if i'm not mistaken, - - - -see here :- http://shop.game.net/ViewProduct.aspx?cat=11142&mid=321046
enter your post code for local store info'
My local "game" shop is a ten minute car ride away, and for just £30 sounds like good value, but there again £15 for a new dvd-rom equals out about the same. |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 1:48 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
The standard edition in the US is CD, not DVD. Only the collectors edition is DVD. Not sure if its the same in the UK though.
I got it last night and the game is amazing. The graphics are pretty nice, most of the graphics are about the same as other recent games like FarCry or Doom3. That is until you start interacting with the people, and then you crap your pants...
You simply cannot appreciate how much of a difference the full facial muscle modelling does for this game. The actors are so completely beleivable its insane. Every expression, every eye movement, every gesture is 100% beleivable.
I didnt have any problems in stalling or activating the game. It did take a rather long time to go through the steam stuff, but it wasnt anything like cfm describes. The only info I had to give was my name and email address. Thats it. I think cfm may have registered the game which is *not* mandatory, its just mandatory to activate it over steam, which only requires a username, password, email address and your first/last name.
The retail box is very dissapointing. I bought the standard edition and it didnt even come with a manual. The DVD collectors edition was $80, and I am not paying that much for a game, even if it is Half Life 2. The only benefit of buying the retail version over the Steam version is that you dont have to download all the data, and its cheaper. Apart from that its identical.
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IMHO my opinion is humble |
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Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:53 pm |
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piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Well, I was looking at the extra stuff you get with the DVD collector's edition, and the Steam silver and gold packages... hats, t-shirts, posters, blah, blah... but the thing that intrigued me was "Half Life: Source," I was wondering just how different this would be from the original Half Life. From what I've read on this forum, not a lot. As far as I can see, this isn't the super-fancy Source-engine update of the original you might expect - it looks pretty much the same, except for ragdoll effects, improved water and shiny reflective stuff, and HL2's explosions. Not really enough to warrant any extra cash from me. I'm particularly surprised that they didn't include the hi-detail model updates that came with Blue Shift.
So, looks like the plain old standard CDROM edition for me, then. Thanks Wulf, if I'm in town at a normal hour tomorrow (I work at night ) I'll try Game or similar, otherwise I'll go for Play.com, as they have the same price including postage. |
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:33 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
And now - what about hardware requirements? What are your experiences. What PC do you have? And how does the game run on it? |
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 9:43 am |
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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
quote:
Originally posted by Danicek
And now - what about hardware requirements? What are your experiences. What PC do you have? And how does the game run on it?
I built myself a new machine this year, so suffice to say it runs very, very well. 
I've heard it's running fine on Athlon 2100-class machines, so it appears Valve have done a good job of keeping the specs down. The back of the box says:
quote:
Windows 2000/XP/Me/98
1.2GHz processor
256MB RAM
DirectX 7 graphics card
4.5GB HDD
Internet connection
DVD drive
Although that's not much help really.
_________________
Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:48 pm |
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