Half-Life 2 and Steam

[Sajt]

Such and old engine? What are you newbs talking about? HL2 debuted the spankin new source engine.

Hehe, I sure hope this is sarcasm

Bethesda isnt exactly renowned for their fast engines, but it is also completely new tech in their case. Also Radiant AI is a bit more involved, and then it also has Havok physics involved. That and Oblivion is rather large with lots of large expansive outdoor environments.

As much as it was touted, Radiant AI equates to Quake-era AI with a couple lines added to make people pretend to eat and sleep. Although I'm sure Bethesda got some quack software engineers to make a really really complex, slow over-object-oriented framework for the stupid AI.

As for the engine, Oblivion uses Gamebryo, the successor to NetImmerse which was used for Morrowind. I have no idea how fast this engine is, but the Bethesda programmers have never been in tune with the art of programming, and I wouldn't put it past them to bugger up a good engine.

[Monster]

At least they did it all themselves, unlike Valve. The game is very realistic to me, except for the same lines that people say and other minor things. I mean, would you want to go in putting different rumors lines for EVERY NPC in the game??

[Sajt]

P.S. Bethesda *didn't* make it themselves, they used the Gamebryo 'middleware' engine, and I'm sure they credit it somewhere...

[seighten]

not once was i ever enthralled by the world of half life

yet i was so easily moved by quake

it is a universe so different from our own that it invites my every mental desire to imagine

and so i did, so content i am

[scar3crow]

seighten - Honestly, and I say this with my loathing of Valve aside.. that was a friggin beautiful post.

That is one of the wonderful things that Quake has that HalfLife does not, will never have, and so many other games lack as well.

[Baker]

The one true Quake has already outlived many "cooler" games that have come and gone and died.

[Paradi$e]

I had no problems with installing the game nor Steam.

I bought the game when it came out, and although I heard many stories about Steam and the trouble people had installing the game etc., on my end everything went very smoothly. I was up and playing the game in half hour (it takes a big to install).

I finished the game, although I did cheat towards the end.
I found it very linear. Not much freedom to explore, the game put you on a straight path that you are following. So one you beat the game, there is little reason to go back and re-play it.

Episode 1 is very tough. I didn't even get past the elevator level. You know in the beggining when you have to hit with the gravity gun the things that fall from the sky, that they don't crash your elevator.

Anyway, I think playing HL2 is enough. To see what the game offers, engine wise, and to view its visuals.

[Monster]

I just got hl2 episode 1 and its pissing me off. Says 1 hour I have to wait, now its 45 minutes. w00t!! I paid my 20 bux now let me play my damn game. what is the point of steam really??

Yeah i also agree that HL2 has no replay value. You can't do what you want. I actually did start a new game after I beat it for the first time, the whole thing was just the same, so I said fuck it. I'd rather play a game like Oblivion.

[Bank]

Well, Half-Life 2 is just a crappy rail shooter. But sometimes you just want to shoot things in a straight line with no exploration.

[Sajt]

Well, that's any first-person shooter nowadays.

When FPSes started, they were non-linear within the maps. You might visit rooms in different order, as you searched for coloured keys for locked doors.

Now they're completely linear and require NO thinking at all. Kids praised the death of the coloured keys, but I find nothing interesting or worthwhile in current FPSes, so maybe some modern version of coloured keys needs to be invented...