HL3: Episode 2

i think the graphical improvements in the expansions/episodes does make it more HL3 than anything else. when episode three comes out, it will still graphically rival any brand new game, whereas HL2 out the box is already a bit dated.

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Originally Posted by brblx

i think the graphical improvements in the expansions/episodes does make it more HL3 than anything else. when episode three comes out, it will still graphically rival any brand new game, whereas HL2 out the box is already a bit dated.

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If they are going to make this title stand out through sheer graphical power, they have a lot of stuff on their plate to deal with.

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Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

...now it is ALL going to be wrapped up in 3 meager expansion packs (yes, sorry Gabe, but thats basically what they are) with 5-7 hours of gameplay each?

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The tone of it seems a little wrong, finishing off the storyline in 3 little expansions, but as far as playtime, remember that that is 15-21 hours total; That right there is longer than most games in the first place. Add in HL1 and HL2, and that's a pretty good sized story.

Hold on there. The Episodes are NOT the end of the HL story line. There are at least three interviews that clearly support this.

A quote from a Game Informer Interview with Doug

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GI: But if Episode Three is ending the trilogy…

Lombardi: But not ending Half-Life. Just the trilogy.

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Quote from Eurogamer:

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Eurogamer: So far you've announced three episodes - is that all? Any more planned beyond that?

Gabe Newell: There are three that are in this arc. (italics mine)

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The trilogy was entended to be HL3, but because Ep1 started exactly where HL2 left off, and they were going to be experimenting with episodic content, they decided it would be safer to make them extensions of HL2. There were also some distribution factors dealing with stuff that had already been printed.

Anyway, HL3 (HL4, whatever) has not been officially confirmed but Gabe has stated that after the episodes the next chapter of the HL story could be outsourced (Similar to Gearbox with Op4) and Valve would start work on another project they have been wanting to do for awhile.

I'm still bitter about how poorly HL2 ep1 ran on my comp. :mad:

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Originally Posted by r'aggro

I'm still bitter about how poorly HL2 ep1 ran on my comp. :mad:

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It ran great on mine, you try turning off AA?

Naw, it wasn't about frames at all. The issue was load freezes, looping sound crash, ect. Saw lots of *****ing about it on Steampowered, so I know I wasn't the only one. You either got lucky or didn't.

Unfortunately those problems were around before Ep1. Don't know if they were indicative to a certain chipset or graphics driver, but yes... many reported problems with them.

I still get the looping sound problem in HL2DM occasionally, but alt-tabbing usually solves it. It also helped to add the command line perameter " -heapsize 102400" to the game's shortcut. Set the amount @ half your RAM, i.e. for a gig it would look like " -heapsize 512000" (minus quotes); also do not forget the space before the dash at the beginning or it will not work. Lastly, increase Steam and the game to "high" priority in XP. These things have almost wiped the problem for me.

If you need any help just PM me.

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Originally Posted by Sinnersis

I've also heard that Valve intend to end the Half-Life series with these three episodes, but then we've all heard similar statements / rumours from other studios before (e.g. Westwood, RIP, stated there would be NO sequel to C&C: Red Alert. We all know how that turned out :D ). So I'll first, wait and see how episode 3 ends before coming to any conclusions.

It has been stated that Valve that they consider episodes 1-3 to be Half-Life 3. They released it this way so that there wouldn't be another 5-6 year wait before "Half Life 3."

Either way, I'd like to see the series continue. After all it does have one of the most engaging "worlds" ever created for a computer game, or for that matter any media form.

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The reason we got a red alert 2 was because EA bought westwood and wanted to milk the franchise for cash (no im not bitter).

I highly doubt valve gets bought out or ends up in financial trouble any time soon so there is a pretty good chance they will stick with it.

I hope they do finish the story in these episodes, everyone always drags series out forever trying to get cash out of them and not respecting the story. it seems from the features they are adding to episode 2 its got a good chance of being a lot bigger than episode 1 was and able to cover more story.

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Originally Posted by Sadai

The reason we got a red alert 2 was because EA bought westwood and wanted to milk the franchise for cash (no im not bitter).

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That was more or less my point. Regardless of what is said, as long as there is money in it we're likely to, eventually, see a "sequel" of some sort to almost any franchise.

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Originally Posted by Sinnersis

That was more or less my point. Regardless of what is said, as long as there is money in it we're likely to, eventually, see a "sequel" of some sort to almost any franchise.

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True but not always, sometimes designers will finish a story and put a series away so they are able to create something new, Valve employees must be sick to death of headcrabs.

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Originally Posted by Frraksurred

Unfortunately those problems were around before Ep1. Don't know if they were indicative to a certain chipset or graphics driver, but yes... many reported problems with them.

I still get the looping sound problem in HL2DM occasionally, but alt-tabbing usually solves it. It also helped to add the command line perameter " -heapsize 102400" to the game's shortcut. Set the amount @ half your RAM, i.e. for a gig it would look like " -heapsize 512000" (minus quotes); also do not forget the space before the dash at the beginning or it will not work. Lastly, increase Steam and the game to "high" priority in XP. These things have almost wiped the problem for me.

If you need any help just PM me.

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Just saw this, thanks! :) I'll try it.