It is very much fun, and steam is rather painless. 

If you don't want to log in to steam any longer than you have to, there are three things you should do once you've authenticated:
1. Ensure it's set to save your login details
2. Find clientregistry.blob in the steam folder and set it to write only, so it won't forget you
3. Block steam with your firewall(you do have a firewall now, don't you?)

I don't do any of this stuff, but it's there if you really only want to sign in to authenticate. 

Steam or not steam, it's the same, people involved in that game have put a lot of effort and also have had a lot of problems, and the final product looks awesome, i'll buy it for sure, they deserve it!.

Only hope that all the new games don't use this thing too. 

i have slow, pay per minute inet access. fuck em. hard. shit.

*runs off seeking what some people call niveau* 

...there's an odd inconsistency at work here.

I'm actually enjoying this game much more than Doom 3 (which I liked a lot), and I can already tell that I'll be playing through at least one more time just to screw around with stuff and try different things (which I have no interest in doing with Doom 3).

But does anyone else think that someone forgot to do the last polishing pass or something? I'm in Ravenholme, and so far I've spotted quite a few cases of z-fighting, floating models, and just plain fucked-up level construction (e.g. pipes that don't reach the wall, sort-order issues on objects). I've also gotten stuck (where I couldn't move) three different times, and have had to load a quicksave, and also had the G-man disappear into thin air right in front of me at a point where they (obviously) didn't expect you to be able to get to him. :)

I wish one sharp-eyed QA guy could have taken one more run. This is a truly great game, and little piddly stupid shit like that makes me sad. 

i've noticed a lot of this in Vampire: Bloodlines, maybe this is something to do with the engine..? Bloodlines was finished earlier than HL2 was, but was delayed until HL2 was finished, so i would assume that whatever final polishing was needed was done on Bloodlines...
0.0002$ ;) 

and I havent noticed one bit of z-fighting, no floating models, and I haven't gotten stuck. I'm also one of those extra curious types who will try for 10 minutes to stack boxes and get myself somewhere I shouldnt be only to find the bastards have clipped off damn near everything!! haha.
What I have noticed is sometimes is when you kill a guy his body will fall right through an object he was previously reacting to. I thought that was a shame since everything else reacts so wonderfully.

The music so far has been just wonderful. It comes at points and sets the perfect mood. Beneath the bridge was calming and made you feel alone.

some sound effects do irritate me (ant lions & vehicle guns) but everything else is just spot on.

your partner pathfinding is also kind of shabby in some areas. Not that my own is very good at those points climbing over rubble, it gets tricky sometimes. 

Playing this game, at any given time I was having lots of something: either intense frustration, or fun. Mostly fun.

And the good bits are just *so damned good*. 

Nothing but spoilers below. Well, mostly.




The game really shifts gears and tries to do very different things along the way. Sometimes you are just shooting people, sometimes it's more of a racing game, or jumping or stacking puzzles, or squad combat, or a movie, or.... I wish it managed to mix things up a bit more. By the time I got rid of the airboat, I was literally sick of it. I had airboat sickness. By the time I got out of Ravenholme, I could never see another headcrab, zombie, or sawblade again.

The game really hit its stride on the drive up the coast for me. The abandoned houses, the bridge, and fighting with the resistance against the gunships and dropships were my highpoints. Me and my dunebuggy vs. the world.

I can't say enough bad things about the end. The very very end that is - right up till then it was fine. Great even. I also disliked the game's penchent for making you think you were getting somewhere and then dumping you in a sewer with some headcrabs and those ceiling hanging, uh, guys, and if you got through you could meet up with so-and-so on the other side. I was constantly meeting up with people, and then they'd send me off to meet somebody else or meet me somewhere else later. After awhile I didn't really feel welcome when I did manage to get somewhere.

I think I was spoiled by Doom3's consistent treatment of every surface. In HL2 I was constantly noticing how different surfaces were flat shaded while others had fancy shaders. While some of the environments were very well done, the engine kinda makes me feel like I'm playing the fanciest version of the Q3 engine ever. The game is about twice as fast as Doom3, but the stuttering problem got very severe towards the end of the game.

I have a feeling people will soon loath physics based stacking puzzles the way jumping puzzles are hated now. 

I'm up to Anticitizen too, and it rocks. Those walkers are spooky, and I am still taken aback by the atmosphere of this game. I've noticed the z-fighting and the repeating textures (my least fave visual bug), but the whole clash of technologies, and realistic settings and the solid and constant gameplay are just awesome. This game has it all over D3, I really hate to say. 

DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED HL2


I personally enjoyed the physics in HL2 a lot. The early stuff before you have the gravity gun is fun and gives you some idea of what you can and can't do.

I particularly thought the floating barrels under the see-saw ramp was cool, although I think I've seen something similar in another game... Far Cry had a few similar puzzles to HL2 anyway.

Also, there was a bit where you go over a jump on your hover boat and hit a bit of scaffolding, knocking it over. From here, you know that you can knock all the combine on scaffolding into the river, which is pretty good fun.

Well, I don't want to get into a rant, but it was a damn sight more fun than shooting imps in a flickering dark room at 15fps 640*480 all the while suspicious of every doorway because of cheap tricks so tired that a whole packet of pro plus couldn't make them look interesting.

Back to HL2. I do kind of agree with Xoltan about the Ravenholm section - that did get old quite quickly. I guess I'd seen enough zombies in Doom 3 to last me a lifetime. Also, the super fast zombies were very irritating, along with the headcrabs (hey, but at least no 1/4 size translucent ones like in the first game, eh?)

Personally I thought that although Doom 3 appeared a bit more polished than HL2, HL2 had a generally more pleasing look, with MUCH more interesting and varied environments. I also felt that the shaders and effects in HL2 were generally put to better use than those in Doom 3.

The ending was a little bit crap, but I enjoyed the run up to it, and I don't think the lack of a huge end boss bothered me that much in retrospect. I'm just annoyed that it didn't last a little bit longer and feel more conclusive.... unlike a certain other game, which I became sick of by the end =] 

I saw HL2 in the store and they had a normal boxed HL2 and a special big boxed HL2 which was more expensive. This big box mentioned Half-Life Source. Does that mean that the original HL SP gets a facelift (along with CS which is of no interest to me)? Playing through the original HL with some source visual improvements might be worth paying more for the deluxe set. Does anyone know anything about this? 

No real updates to graphics besides engine stuff. In other words, the models, weapons, textures, sprites, enemies, etc look EXACTLY the same. The only real thing is that there are physics, some nice water effects, and I think that's about it. Not worth it from every source (haha) I've seen. My dad says it's not worth it, and someone else here posted saying it was garbage as well. 

the cows give much milk to the valve... 

Would make a good source port. Good variety of situations in that one, as opposed to Blue Shift which was one damn and damnable flip a switch to align boxes puzzle after another.
If I am going to be flipping a lot of switches it should be in some place pretty like in Myst.

Anyway. the Squad based areas of Opposing Forces may play even better with source AI.

I wont be getting the game until after Thanksgiving though. 

`greed with `zg
settings, atmosphere, people animation - rock
gameplay.. kinda bleh so far. Hope it will pick up the pace. And man, it linear as a rail (shame for such realistic environment).
And this 'telekinetic item manipulaton - its just plain fuckedup. Really ruins the masterfully crafted realism of the game. Couldnt they modell a hand? 

fuck realism
we're here to play funneh games, not play fucking reallife... 

Vondur for world domination! 

So my copy of HL2 arrived....where the FUCKING HELL is my manual?? Do I email Amazon or Vivendi to get them to send me the fucking manual that should be in the fucking case?? 

There is no FUCKING manual you ass clown. I heard there is a simple insert with key commands listed on it. But thats it, there is no manual, awesome huh? You should of just used Steam and gotten over it.

:) 

you can buy the strategy guide that also serves as the manual! 

This post is slightly off topic but...

I don't know about you, but I fucking hate it when I fork out �30-�40 for a game, only to find there is no manual, a shitty quick start guide or "on-line manual", or worse still, the manual has clearly been designed to be printed in colour, and no doubt is in colour in American copies, but has been printed in FUCKING BLACK AND WHITE!

WHAT!? You spend all this time and money on making a game, only to package it in a plain DVD box with a crap render and poorly chosen screenshots adorning it, and can't even be bothered to give me a colour manual, when the FUCKING JUNK MAIL THAT COMES ON A DAILY FUCKING BASIS THROUGH MY MAILBOX IS PRINTED IN FUCKING COLOUR.

FUCK YOU, YOU CHEAP ASS PENNY PINCHING CORPORATE FILTH! 

I bought the game on Steam after seeing the shit vivendi had pulled with the packaging. People at work had already downloaded the cache files, and all that was needed was to copy them over the lan and authenticate them to my Steam account.

Also, having had my little rant, I don't mind that there was no HL2 manual too much. It does bug me a LOT when the manual that comes with a game is poorly designed, uninteresting, black and white, or not printed and instead included as a FUCKING PDF on the cd... FORCING ME TO INSTALL ADOBE ACROBAT (which I already have installed, although I would have a problem if I didn't want to install acrobat :)

I really liked Return To Castle Wolfenstein's manual. Interesting development facts etc. are great and should be in more manuals. Likewise, the manual that came with Speedball 2 (going back a bit, I know) was AWESOME. Seriously, it was one of the best manuals ever. The game came with a season guide and history of Speedball, but it was written as if Speedball was real. It contained lots of "facts" about the most violent players, weapons that were allowed in previous iterations of Speedball and why they were banned, plus a heap of other info. IT WAS GREAT.

Making a nice manual to go with a game isn't THAT much effort, and can really make a buyer feel good about their purchase as they pore over the contents of the box on the train ride home (or whatever), eagerly awaiting the moment they first start playing.

HALF-LIFE 2 WAS GREAT. Just staying on topic. 

Y'know, I always liked the Mega Man manuals, cuz they always had the artwork for the bosses, which was sweet. I got Megaman anniversary, but it was preused, so I didn't get the supercool artbook that came with it. Oh well, they got all the bosses in there anyway. But seriously, MegaMan PowerBattles is just plain week. But, I'm trying to find all the secrets I can unlock (they got a ton of em I hear.)

HL2 is ok. 

Right. So let me get this right. I just bought a game that doesn't come with a manual at all.

Every other fucking game I've ever bought came with a manual. It's just the way things are. Manuals are fun, give a bit of character and anticipation, give you something to read on the bog or waiting for it to install.

So why the fucking hell have Valve decided they're not including one in this game??