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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Juim on Thu Nov 18th at 3:35pm 2004

I was in the steam forums this morning, and you'd think they would be abuzz with many OMG, and OMFG type threads. Yet the vast majority of posts seem to be with people feeling like Gabe and the boys at Valve have screwed them out of their hard earned money. I really do love the game, and STEAM, and subsequent downloads, game content run fine for me, but I honestly feel like Valve believes they are bulletproof.

Mandatory internet connection, for a retail product?

So if a kid spends his summer allowance for HL2, he can NOT play the game without an internet connection?

No simple offline play mode?

Steam verification problems left and right. Hey I knew they'd be busy but I feel for all those guys who cant get credit card confirmation/steam accounts/complete downloads/.Average time for Joe Schmoe is apparently anywhere from 5 to 15 hours to get the game running, starting from scratch.

Finally, No vanilla DM out of the box. I HATE CS. I don't like team based gameplay, hate modern realistic warfare sims(Come on,gimme a GAUSS, or GLUON gun folks), and I certainly don't want to be told what I like.

So it boils down to this. Right now HL2 is about as good as a singleplayer game gets. The rest is still up in the air,and Valve hopefully will see the light and begin treating their customers abit more like they are valuable to Valves existence.





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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by 7dk2h4md720ih on Thu Nov 18th at 4:25pm 2004

Did you even give CS source a chance? As a hardcore TFC fan(atic) I used to think the original CS was pretty terrible. After a few rounds of CCS and spending some time getting used to it, I think CSS is really enjoyable.

The no DM sucks, but just be patient and there'll be thousands of mods along soon.




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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Loco on Thu Nov 18th at 4:46pm 2004

5 TO 15 HOURS?!?!

Could someone verify this on a 56k modem? This is scaring the living daylights out of me, as the only time I can activate it is over the weekend on a 56k pay-as-you-go!
[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Loco on Thu Nov 18th at 4:47pm 2004

Sorry about the double post! Connection problems...
[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Leperous on Thu Nov 18th at 5:14pm 2004

You only need an internet connection to activate HL2, you don't need one to play the game. You can start Steam up in offline mode and play it then...

It took me about 10 minutes to get playing- admittedly I have a fast internet connection, but I do not think it has to download much. The reason that it takes so long to activate is because it is decrypting files, not because it's downloading tonnes, and I can imagine that can take up to an hour on some PCs.

I'm sure some other 56k people here who have already played the game will come along in a minute and tell you about it





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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Spartan on Thu Nov 18th at 7:26pm 2004

Let's see here. I don't really see a problem for complaint. We are getting HL2, DoD:S, CS:S, a new kick ass editor, and maybe even a HL2 DM in 2005. What other game company gives out that much when they release a new game. Certainly not Id or Bungie, not that I am trying to put down any companys but Valve has given us a lot and people still bitch. What else more were they expecting, Gordan Freeman to knock on their door and surprise them with a secret copy of HL2 DM?



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Thu Nov 18th at 7:28pm 2004

It took around 15 hours for me to get it working, but that is because I had to download the whole damn thing. (3.5 GB) [addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Spartan on Thu Nov 18th at 8:00pm 2004

In the 15 hours you probably could've just gone out and bought the retail version.



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by ReNo on Thu Nov 18th at 8:23pm 2004

But the retail version wasn't the same as the steam versions, so its not really a simple of matter of which is easier, but instead which is more suited to you.
[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Nov 18th at 8:35pm 2004

son is a novice, he bought game, installed it and had it running in 1.5 hours on DSL..

that seems excessive to me, but perhaps...

anywho's, i am waiting till i am rested to look at game.. without HLDM, it truly holds no interest for me.. 5 years i have waited, a few more won't hurt i guess.

[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Thu Nov 18th at 9:28pm 2004

I fail to see the problem here. The only legitimate complaint is that there's no HL2DM.

-Steam runs in offline mode, and you don't need to be connected to the internet to run it.
-The decryption took about 20 minutes, compared to me driving 20 minutes round trip, standing in line for 15 minutes at Best Buy, and then installing HL2 off the CDs for 20 minutes. Plus you've waited 5 years for the f**king game, another day shouldn't make a difference.
-Too bad all those fools trying to download and install the game over 56k the day of its release didn't have some way to preload the game, spreading the necessary download time over a month, OH WAIT!
-CS:S is a great game. It's no HL2DM substitute, but it is a perfectly acceptable timewaster. The real shame about no HL2DM is realizing how awesome it would be after playing the single player game.
-It's impossible for Valve to satisfy every single person who buys their game, so I don't see why a few people are getting their panties in a bunch over Valve 'screwing' them or not caring. "Oh boo hoo, Valve didn't give me one on one attention about a computer game, the bastards!" Don't claim to speak for all HL2 customers.





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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Nov 18th at 9:37pm 2004

*hears yaks first sentence, i drift off afterward*

i have to say though, i bought the damned game, thats the extent of my dedication to valve.. since they didn't meet me 1/2 way with a decent HLDM mode, i see no reason to praise them after the 60 bucks i spent.

[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Thu Nov 18th at 10:00pm 2004

that was a response to Juim's post, not yours





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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Orpheus on Thu Nov 18th at 10:13pm 2004

? quoting Yak_Fighter

that was a response to Juim's post, not yours

tis cool..

i must say, i doubt i will ever hate anything HL, but i sure am displeased after 5 years wait.

i know code writing is tuff, but how damned hard can it be to add a multiplayer start

[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by 7dk2h4md720ih on Fri Nov 19th at 12:41pm 2004

Just wait a while and I believe there'll be a definite HLDM2 mod that stands out from the others, one that will be superior to anything valve could produce and maintain.




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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Thylacine on Fri Nov 19th at 12:46pm 2004

I find it hard to beleive this is 6 years worth of game, to be honest. Its a great game, but it sure as hell aint six years of work. [addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by 7dk2h4md720ih on Fri Nov 19th at 12:58pm 2004

You being the games development guru and all....

So not to be just a sarcastic bastard, read Andrews large post here: http://www.snarkpit.com/forums.php?forum=1&topic=2454&findpost=newest#newposts

It's a lot harder to make a game than you might think, and I think 6 years is a bit off the mark too.




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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Thylacine on Fri Nov 19th at 1:09pm 2004

Yeah just stumbled on Andrews post before returning here.

I just did 2004 - 1998 to get 6 years, given valve made such a deal about starting only a short period after HL released. It came out in 1998 didn't it?

And I was already aware of what goes into game development, and fair enough HL2 probably took a lot more than any other game, but come on, we are talking about over half a decade here.

*edit* Also consider where the game's development was 12 months ago in the leak, its not unreasonable to assume, if they are to be beleived, that they have come further in the last 12 months than they did in the 4 or 5 years prior?

[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by Kage_Prototype on Fri Nov 19th at 1:13pm 2004

if you didn't notice, they also had to develop their own engine, which happened to take up almost 3 years of development time. Anyone who's tried this will tell you that it's no easy feat, especially when you've never done it before, and especially when you're developing an incredibly ambitious product like HL2 alongside it. Game development nowadays takes long enough with licened engines, let alone a whole new one built and funded in-house.
[addsig]



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 Re: Steam Forums
Posted by pepper on Fri Nov 19th at 1:43pm 2004

yeah, give valve some credit. if they would have screwed up on this game the whole world would hate them, the release of hl2 was even on the afternoon news on the radio.
[addsig]




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