HL2: Episode 1

My big problem with valve and the episodic distribution.. is that I feel like I'm being experimented on by testing out this new delivery system. Of course we're all going to buy that thing, valve will think that episodic distribution is the best thing ever... and then, of course, everyone will start doing it.

Thanks to Gabe and his wonderful vision about giving us 1/x (where x is the number of damnable episodes there will be).

Waiting half a year (probably longer, this IS valve you know) to continue a story is insane, and a waste.

Damn it.

Quote from mabufo

Waiting half a year (probably longer, this IS valve you know) to continue a story is insane, and a waste.

What the heck do you think we were doing between HL and HL2, and are continuing to do between HL2 and Ep1?

I thought the end of Half Life 2 was brilliant...

then again, that was an entire game... and if they shrink the development time of episodes down to say 3 months... they'll squeeze more and more money out of us.

Why is it insane to wait half a year to continue a story? Normally sequels have a much longer turnaround time (almost 5 years between HL1 and HL2 for god's sake!). Episodic content reduces the wait - it's less insane if anything.

I think 6 months is a fair gap to have between episodes. If it's significantly shorter (ie. around 3 months) it will begin to feel like we are subscribers or something, while if it is longer then we will begin to expect full-game sized episodes.

Quote from mabufo

Waiting half a year (probably longer, this IS valve you know) to continue a story is insane, and a waste.

Damn it.

I don't think they've planned out an entire "normal length" game and then just chopped it up into 3 parts. I'm pretty sure each episode has its own story-arc, it's not like you'll be going into a level transition only to have "map3.bsp not found, click here to preorder episode 2" appear.

If I'm proven wrong once it's released, feel free to yell at me

Anyway, I'm a-ok with the episodic format. I'd rather wait 6 months to play 3-4 hours of singleplayer goodness instead of waiting several years to play a 8-10 hour game.

I guess I'm just one of those people who can't start reading a book, put it down for a month and just pick it up and start reading it again.

Whatever. I doubt it's going to live up to the hype.

Pre-loaded it, and will soon pre-order it. It'll be most good, make no mistake.

Quote from skdr

You rather put the book down for 3 years than 6 months or so? I don't quite understand you.

No, I'll finish the entire book - and move onto the next one in the series after it's written... not read it chapter by chapter.

Quote from mabufo

I guess I'm just one of those people who can't start reading a book, put it down for a month and just pick it up and start reading it again

Its more like a series of books (Lord of the Rings Trilogy) than a single book choped up into pieces. Another aspect of Episodic release is the fact that the devloper can get customer feedback in between each episode. Though I guess this is more useful for Sin episodes since its a brand new game than for the Half-Life episodes wich will continue most of the stuff already seen in HL2. Wich again really makes it like an expansion pack.

I'm so totally on board with episodic content. Full length games are getting shorter but they're still way too damn long. I want to be able to knock this out in one or two evenings, I don't want to be saddled with a game for a week until I finish it, or worse yet leave it off halfway because they were trying to squeeze enough gametime in. Keep it shorter and sweeter, that's what I want.

If it pisses you off, just think of it as HL3 and get over it.

So far in my history of playing FPS games, Half-Life 2 may have had the best singleplayer mode ever, still not going to buy the episodes

I am not planning to buy this. HL2 dissapointed me big time and so far they have shown _nothing_ from Episode 1 which have impressed me.

Quote from JAL

So far in my history of playing FPS games, Half-Life 2 may have had the best singleplayer mode ever

You sir, need to play more games.

Might pick this up when it goes retail, can't be arsed with Steam at the moment.

HL2 really is one of the best single-player experiences ever created. Wtf are you talking about D3?

Purchased.

Quote from Thrik

HL2 really is one of the best single-player experiences ever created. Wtf are you talking about D3?

Not really.

wonder how long the episode is..

4-5 hours?