Half life 2 episode 2 priced $29.95

[Noema]

I thought Ep.1 was okay. It ended abruptly indeed but I didn't mind at the time because, well, Ep.2 was supposed to come November 2006. No big deal.

But waiting 13 months between 4 hour games is ridiculous and defeats the whole purpose of episodic gaming. Sam and Max got it right. Valve delayed it so it could be simultaneously released on consoles.

 

[Polish3d]

As I said


Far Cry was released in 2004

HL2 was released in 2004


The likely masterpiece that is Crysis is coming out soon


Where is a full-blown brand new HL game?


Same 2004 engine spiffed up
Same guns, same enemies, same gameplay style

for 30% of a game based upon ~50-80% old material (engine/enemies/story etc) that is over one year later than promised and is priced at 60% of a brand new game


Poor

 

[MikeyLSU]

I loved HL2 and Ep 1, but I am not buying this game for that price. I'm not paying $30 for a small "episode", and I'm also not paying $45 for a small episode and a little multiplayer. I just have to hope they lower the price after a little bit.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: JBT
Does this still come with Portals and TF2? if so $30 isn't THAt bad but yes if its just like EP1 Valve can go to hell. I finished that up in short order. I really like HL2 baseed games but $30 is just to much if it has the same amount of content as EP1 did.

HL2 episode 2 is $29.95
Portal is $19.95
TF2 is $29.95

Orange Box cost = $45 if you preorder it now

Episode one came out in : June 1, 2006


So they been working on Episode 2 , Portal and TF2 since then.

To me Valve have found a way to suck more cash out of its customers :!

Half life 2 took years to develop and they have to sell it at $49.95 which ain't so great for them.

So now they take a year and half to develop one epiosde and few other project and sell em for all their worth and to make way more profit then they would make with a game like full long Half life.

They would sell 2millions of HL2 episode 2 easy which would make them $60million alone and then TF2/Portal another 40million. Cost of development would be way below $8million (even lower since its only been in development for 1and half year since full game like HL2 , Bioshock cost less than $20million to make).

Anyways Black-box which i had pre-ordered at eb was canceled for a reason so that valve could make more money. Why sell HL2 episode 2 , Portal , TF2 for $29.95.

That would be fine... if I didn't feel so ripped off from EP1... the game play was alright but freaking 4 hours??? that really ticked me off.
I also wouldn't mind buying EP2 ,portals, and TF2 if I didn't have to rebuy HL2... Its so stupid.. Maybe i'll see if any of my co-workers want to buy that part off me for cheap... Sorry it just rubs me the wrong way forcing me to re purchase something I already own.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: JBT

That would be fine... if I didn't feel so ripped off from EP1... the game play was alright but freaking 4 hours??? that really ticked me off.
I also wouldn't mind buying EP2 ,portals, and TF2 if I didn't have to rebuy HL2... Its so stupid.. Maybe i'll see if any of my co-workers want to buy that part off me for cheap... Sorry it just rubs me the wrong way forcing me to re purchase something I already own.

It is also like a big screw you. The only people this hurts is those who actually bought the game. Why would you be helping the people who didn't buy your game and alienating the ones who did.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: JBT

That would be fine... if I didn't feel so ripped off from EP1... the game play was alright but freaking 4 hours??? that really ticked me off.
I also wouldn't mind buying EP2 ,portals, and TF2 if I didn't have to rebuy HL2... Its so stupid.. Maybe i'll see if any of my co-workers want to buy that part off me for cheap... Sorry it just rubs me the wrong way forcing me to re purchase something I already own.

It is also like a big screw you. The only people this hurts is those who actually bought the game. Why would you be helping the people who didn't buy your game and alienating the ones who did.

Because Valve's business model is like a drunk man locked in a pitch black utility closet, fumbling around, knocking over mops and buckets and bonking his head on shelving units while he searched for the doorknob.

 

[tigersty1e]

Half-Life series is the MOST overrated game ever.

The game is good, but not that good.

Valve is milking this thing for all it's worth. Sadly, the only thing Half-Life has going for it is the fact that the story is so incomplete. If they made the story half understandable, people would stop playing.

As it is, they just come out with more BS storyline that makes no sense at all, forcing you to buy the next installment to get closure.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I just want TFC2.

Amen, brother.

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: JBT

That would be fine... if I didn't feel so ripped off from EP1... the game play was alright but freaking 4 hours??? that really ticked me off.
I also wouldn't mind buying EP2 ,portals, and TF2 if I didn't have to rebuy HL2... Its so stupid.. Maybe i'll see if any of my co-workers want to buy that part off me for cheap... Sorry it just rubs me the wrong way forcing me to re purchase something I already own.

It is also like a big screw you. The only people this hurts is those who actually bought the game. Why would you be helping the people who didn't buy your game and alienating the ones who did.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that line of thinking at all. You could easily just say that they're not making you rebuy anything. They're including it in the package. Give it to a friend. Or charge them if you must, whatever.

And about alienating those that DID buy it when it originally came out... boo-hoo? Jesus, it's business. It's the way things work. You might as well just stop buying ANYTHING because someone down the line is going to get a better deal than you. This is just like people that buy generation 1 of a new console, and then bitch when they drop the price a year later. The tradeoff is that you HAD the console for that first year.

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU
I loved HL2 and Ep 1, but I am not buying this game for that price. I'm not paying $30 for a small "episode", and I'm also not paying $45 for a small episode and a little multiplayer. I just have to hope they lower the price after a little bit.

Let's say, hypothetically, that they don't lower the price. You'll still buy the Orange Box after complaining about it ad nauseum here. Then you'll complain about how Ep. 2 SO wasn't worth it. Then you'll complain that the second time you played it wasn't worth it either. Then you'll complain about the hackers on TF2. Then you'll complain that you can't make it past level 42 on Portal. Then you'll complain that your brother finished HL2 much faster than you did with his free copy.

Then you'll complain that we don't listen to you.

-z

 

[MikeyLSU]

try talking about things you know before attacking someone. I am probably one of the few that really enjoyed Ep 1 and thought it was worth it. I played through a second time for fun and loved HL2 also.

 

[msi1337]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
Half-Life series is the MOST overrated game ever.

The game is good, but not that good.

Valve is milking this thing for all it's worth. Sadly, the only thing Half-Life has going for it is the fact that the story is so incomplete. If they made the story half understandable, people would stop playing.

As it is, they just come out with more BS storyline that makes no sense at all, forcing you to buy the next installment to get closure.

thats funny!!

as stated earlier this is my favorite pc game. Funny how it's also the highest rated pc game of all time as well on IGN.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I don't find the Valve setup very comparable to other entities such as Farcry and Crysis. These were/are single products that would allow them to apply all their workforce to completing them. Valve had HL2 and CS:S at the start which immediately means they needed more employees/time to finish their initial product. Then, they added DoD:S and HL2M to the mix along with Lost Coast and engine upgrades. So while the Crysis team was working on a their new game, Valve was busy releasing new content for 3 different games plus working on engine upgrades and producing 2 new single player additions and TF2.

The thing I'm curious about the most is the engine updates like multi-core support, updated particle systems, upgrade Ai/physics system, upgraded lightning system, etc. All these upgrades should pass down the chain to their previous source games like CS:S and DoD:S giving us a performance boost and new additions.

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU
try talking about things you know before attacking someone. I am probably one of the few that really enjoyed Ep 1 and thought it was worth it. I played through a second time for fun and loved HL2 also.

Then don't make statements such as "I'm not paying $30 for a small "episode", and I'm also not paying $45 for a small episode and a little multiplayer." Because we know that's not true.

-z

 

[MikeyLSU]

ummm, yeah, cause you know me so well.

 

[zagood]

Listen, I'm sorry if I came off harsh, and I don't have any personal grudge against you. I'm just sick of people bitching about the Black Box/Orange Box fiasco. Steam screwed up in the first place by offering the Black Box at all...but think about it, I don't believe that they ever announced a price for the BB. Let's assume that since the standalone price for Ep 2 is $29.99, and the OB is $49.99, the BB would have been $39.99. For ten bucks more you're getting two games that were around $70 combined when they first came out.

So yes, it sucks for us that own the extra two games. But it doesn't suck enough that people aren't going to buy it on principle. That's just silly.

Sorry if I singled you out.

-z

 

[Zenoth]

Curiously I'm more inclined in getting Portal and especially Team Fortress 2 over Episode Two, because I just know that Episode Two will most likely create more mysteries than it answered questions that weren't answered either in H-L, H-L 2 or Episode One. And somehow I have doubts that even Episode Three will truly tell us exactly with details and direct sentences (sans parabolic messages) what exactly happened in H-L, and what happened in between the HUGE, MONSTROUS gap of time and information between H-L and Half-Life 2.

Because apparently Freeman changed CONTINENTS and I see no signs of European influence in H-L 2 other than the architecture, so where are the actual Europeans that must have lived there until the end of the "Seven Hours War" ? Because so far the Rebels all seem to be Americans. Have any of you heard any accents from them other than the guy who deals with the G-Man in H-L 2 to give you an RPG ? I don't see nor hear any Germans, Spanish, French, British, Portuguese, Austrians nor a mix of those and much more. What happened after the war and before the Citadel in City 17 was built ? What happened before Freeman arrived (erm I mean appeared) in the wagon at the train station ? Why in the holy heck was Barney actually WAITING for me on purpose and how did he know I was about to come from that train in that City in particular ? What IS the Combine ? What do THEY want exactly ? WHERE are they coming from ? How many of them there are ? WHO is the G-Man ? WHO are his "employers" ? Why can he manipulate time and space ? Is it just an illusion ? A nightmare that Freeman is having and that the whole Half-Life Saga was just Freeman that took a nap in the wagon when he first arrived at Black Mesa ?

Not even Half-Life 2 answered, after around 12 hours of game-play, any of those questions and three times more even. Episode One only explained why I'm at the bottom of the Citadel and why I had to enter it again ... and I doubt Episode Two will help in any significant ways, shapes or forms evolve the story with actual direct well-explained details by the game's characters. But of course, all of that is mere speculation, assumptions and more importantly I see that Episode as being nothing very positive. But because of pure curiosity I will buy it, as I know myself enough. All of those questions are part of my own, personal hype build up. The actual apprehension of the Episode's arrival is probably more exciting than playing it ...

 

[Polish3d]

I'll probably buy it out of boredom and curiousity over the eagerness that I will have buying games like Crysis, UT3, Assassin's Creed etc


However, I am sick of the same old machine gun, same old feel, same old shit. I think its laziness frankly. Talented but lazy

 

[XNice]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
I don't find the Valve setup very comparable to other entities such as Farcry and Crysis. These were/are single products that would allow them to apply all their workforce to completing them. Valve had HL2 and CS:S at the start which immediately means they needed more employees/time to finish their initial product. Then, they added DoD:S and HL2M to the mix along with Lost Coast and engine upgrades. So while the Crysis team was working on a their new game, Valve was busy releasing new content for 3 different games plus working on engine upgrades and producing 2 new single player additions and TF2.

The thing I'm curious about the most is the engine updates like multi-core support, updated particle systems, upgrade Ai/physics system, upgraded lightning system, etc. All these upgrades should pass down the chain to their previous source games like CS:S and DoD:S giving us a performance boost and new additions.

To piggyback off of that, Valve has been restructuring their entire business model since HL2's release. To call them lazy because they havent produced another triple a game is just inaccurate. rstroh, got it right on the money because guess what? They are STILL releasing updates to those 3 year old games. Is Crytek? No.

Now, yes I am a fan of Valve and stand by most of their decisions, BUT not this Orange Box fiasco. Yes, this might sound contradictory but they basically took a page from the coke addicts at Sony Ent. Remove the concept of choice from the consumer or at least make the choices so bad you are almost forced into one. The ridiculous 29,95 price for TF 2 is just to make their Orange Box more attractive. I also dont think the pre-order is a good deal either because I don't get a box or any physical manifestation of the purchase I made. You make me pay 44.95 for a game, at least gimme a box i can put on my shelf. Im sure they could win points if they offered to send out the box and media via request.

With that said, I'm gonna buy an orange box when it drops to like 39.99 at a B&M store. I still havent finished Hl2 or started HL2 Ep1 yet so I have plenny of time. And as far as gameplay hours, Valve releaseed a study that mentioned that people took an average of 5hrs to comple EP1. There was more information in there, but when I find the link I'll post it. It basically substantiates their reasons for EP2's gameplay hours.

In summary, Valve still needs to refine their business structure but we should give them time because they did so much in that area in such a short amount of time. Yes their current business model for the Orange Box sucks, Yes it will rock. And I think their should be Video Game Law that states: No Episodic content shall exceed $19.99US. Luckily, I have a decent job so paying 44.95 and giving away the extra Hl2, EP1 accounts isn't too too much of a big deal for me. It's the principle though, cause not all gamers have jobs. Anyway, thanks for reading guys....

 

[NYHoustonman]

FWIW, PC Gamer gave the Orange Box a 94%, calling it one of the better values ever.

There's a whole lot of HL bashing going on in this thread o.0. Still don't understand why people get so butthurt over little things, it's been a great series so far... the only thing I'm the least bit upset about has been the long wait, but now that it's almost here I have a hard time complaining about it. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 

[Noema]

So, when can we expect Ep.3?

2010 with slightly higher res textures?

 

[Sniper82]

Thinking about buying this since I've never bought Ep1 I've played it for a hour or two at a friends house but never finished it. Wondering if one will be able to find a better deal online once released compared to this(orange box).

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
FWIW, PC Gamer gave the Orange Box a 94%, calling it one of the better values ever.

There's a whole lot of HL bashing going on in this thread o.0. Still don't understand why people get so butthurt over little things, it's been a great series so far... the only thing I'm the least bit upset about has been the long wait, but now that it's almost here I have a hard time complaining about it. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

I'm pissed because they cancelled the black box. I already own HL2, Episode 1, and CS:S. I really just want Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2.

 

[JBT]

Im pretty ticked because this crap was oringally suppose to be released every year for $20 bucks. Then they made it seem like with EP2 you would get Portals and TF2. Now instead of $20 its $45 pre order and then it will be $50 after that. I'm really only interested in EP2 and Portals. TF2 is nothing to me and its WAY over due. I'm not even sure now if I will buy this... I loved HL2 but I don't even know if I should buy the Orange box on principal.

 

[Painman]

I love the HL story, but HL's particular brand of gameplay-on-rails means I'm usually done after one playthrough... I picked up EP1 after it got cheap, and I'll do the same with EP2. I'm not paying 30 bux for something I'll rip through in 1 or 2 sittings and probably never touch again.