How long did it take you to beat HL2?

So I waited till 2AM CST and started playing. I played until 7am cause
I have a little girl and I needed to get some sleep before taking her
to preschool. Boss called at 1030 to say that the interviewee he'd
scheduled for that day was in the office and was waiting on me!

Got showered and dressed and fed the kid, got her to school in like 15
mins and got to the office with not much time lost. Still exhausted and
buzzing from lack of sleep I interviewed the guy for an hour or so, and
then we went to lunch. If the boss buys, you go. :-D

After lunching and chatting a bit about the candidate, I got home and
attempted to relax, but the call of HL2 was too strong. I began to play
about 1400 until about 1800 when I had to go get the kiddo. Fed the
kid, read books, played some Spyro, got her to bed then started playing
again at about 2130. Played until 0230. In the AM, got the kid to
school about 0930 got home and started playing again from about 1000 to
1400.

Done.

It was a freaking awesome game I must say and inspires me, much like
the first one, to go and make mad mods. All in all, what, about 13
hours to finish HL2 nearly non-stop?

What a freaking ride!!

--The GrandMaster

Mines waiting to be downloaded whenever I have a few days.

Might I inquire as to what age you are?

I'm still in the buggy/antlion/coast level. I spent most of yesterday playing, but that's about it.

Unlocked and started playing 2:15 AM on Tuesday the 16th, US Central time. Hammered through 4 hours and the first six chapters before going to bed.

1 more hour from 12:15 to 1:15 after a few hours of sleep and picking up my retail copy. Ken and I both took the day off from work, as did our lead designer on the project. :razz: heh. Maggie came home for lunch, though, so 1:15 to 2:15 was spent eating and mingling.

Then another 4 1/2 hours between 2:15 and 6:45, at which point my wife and I went to dinner with a number of the other Raven folks as is Tuesday night tradition.

Got back, sat down at 10 til 9, and wrapped up the game about 9:30. Relaxed, went to bed, back to work first thing Wednesday.

Final time: 10 hours, 10 minutes. About.

I started unlocking the moment it was released, when it finished it was time for school :/

So I came home for lunch just to test it'd work on my comp... had a few problems so I thought I'd leave it until later. So I went back to school for a lesson then it was time to go home... Joy! :smile:

Started figuring out some problems, all good in the end, then I set about playing it. I had at least 4-5 hours play on that day, then the next I had one hell of a go (game didn't crash once!) for about 5 or 6 hours. Now today I've played roughly 2 hours inbetween my only 2 lessons and then another 4ish hours to finally complete it.

All in all about... 15 hours? Give or take a few hours I can't keep track of time amidst all the action :razz:

son beat game in less than 12 hours.. he says its a great game, i says 60 bucks and 12 hours does not signify greatness in my book..

no HLDM and a 12 hour game after 5 damned years.. valve is beginning to annoy me.. perhaps i will learn to map for doom III, at least it met all my expectations for a followup game genre'

Took me around 17 hours altogether. And Orph, seriously, it's probably
the best 17 hours of gameplay I've played in a LONG time< i say it's
worth the 60 bucks. There are so many bits worth replaying that the
abense of any multiplayer doesn't really impact the lasting value of
the game. You'll be missing out if you didn't buy it. :smile: My guess is
that your son and KFS rushed through it; as with all games, your
mileage may vary. :razz:

Kage_Prototype said:
Took me around 17 hours altogether. And Orph, seriously, it's probably the best 17 hours of gameplay I've played in a LONG time< i say it's worth the 60 bucks. There are so many bits worth replaying that the abense of any multiplayer doesn't really impact the lasting value of the game. You'll be missing out if you didn't buy it. :smile: My guess is that your son and KFS rushed through it; as with all games, your mileage may vary. :razz:

well, remember.. i cannot play for more than a few minutes.. i ONLY wanted HLDM.. the 60 bucks was worth THAT.. singleplayer, no matter how good, was never a consideration.

i am just in a funk about that one issue.. i will feel better after i sleep.

Surely only being able to play for a short period of time has as bad an
effect on multiplayer enjoyment as it would on single player. You could
just play for 15 minutes or whatever and take a break, as you surely
need to for mutliplayer also.

ReNo said:
Surely only being able to play for a short period of time has as bad an effect on multiplayer enjoyment as it would on single player. You could just play for 15 minutes or whatever and take a break, as you surely need to for mutliplayer also.

you know, thinking about it id have to say NOT!! :razz:

even the best map i ever saw, never fragged for more than 15-30 minutes, but the singleplayer lasted a few longer..

seriously though, my center of interest was mapping/fragging/critiquing.

even when i do those monster critiques, i have to step away sometimes.. it takes me about 30 minutes to 1 hours to acquire those pics, and about 1/2 that long to write up the words, and about the same coding the images into a proper critique.

don't get me wrong, i am not s**tting on the game.. i am still wet about its release.. i just.... well you know :sad:

I think it took me a week to complete the first Half life on and off. But thats because I was new to the game. Now when I played HL2 it took me something like 11 hours to finish.

Why the difference? Well not only was there shorter levels, but my skill (and probably everyone elses) has increased in HL in general. We know the ins and outs of the gameplay mechanics, and how to solve HL puzzles. A total noob to HL will take a much longer time because he didnt play the old HL1 puzzles.

/my 2cents

I must say the game is worth buying. And as a side note, never get the HL1 source, valve did nothing to improve the levels, or the models, or gamply. About the only change is the monsters don't blow into bits when you shoot them (ragdoll). And the water looks better.THATS ABOUT IT!

Around 15 hours. I spent a lot of time messing with the physics and tried to do a thorough job exploring. It was the best 15 hours of gaming I've had in quite a while.

I wouldn't say the levels are shorter, they're far, far larger than the
original...there's just less maps (about 30 less maps I think, or
somewhere around that figure). It's a lot more focused in it's pace,
and I have yet to find one shred of filler in the whole game to be
honest. They really planned this game out well. :smile: I honestly think
that both games are equal in length, it's just Half-Life may seem
longer because it was more repetitive than Half-Life 2.

Also, you probably rushed through the game too quickly to beat it in 11 bloody hours. :razz:
I don't blame you, I couldn't stop playing it myself. With a game like
Half-Life, you get tired of running around shooting things over and
over. With Half-Life 2 though, the gameplay keeps shifting from one
thing to the next. With each chapter, not only are the settings wholly
unique, but so are many gameplay elements. Like in the Ravenholm
chapter, where you're encouraged to use your newly acquired Gravity Gun
because of a lack of ammo and a huge abundance of heavymetal objects.
:biggrin: In another chapter, you're zooming across drained canals in an
airboat, fending off against helicopters that drop mines in front of
you. In another, you're leading a team of resistance members in huge
battles with striders and gunships.

It's amazing how mediocre Half-Life suddenly seems to be, which is
little more than "run and shoot, press a button, do a jump puzzle,
watch the pretty scripted sequence". The highlights were fighting
marines and apache helicopters, whereas Half-Life 2 seems to manage a
very unique and memorable scene on almost every map (and I'm not
talking about scripted sequences here).

Yikes, that post ended up being longer than I expected. Is it possible to like a game too much?

Orpheus said:
no HLDM and a 12 hour game after 5 damned years.. valve is beginning to annoy me..

As time goes on, it takes longer and longer and more people to get the content done for a game. Average texture in HL? 128x128 or so. Average texture in HL2? 512x512. You can fit sixteen 128 textures onto the surface area of a 512x512 map. Now they get to paint all of those, and that's not even counting the 1024s. :smile: Minimum character polycount averages in at about 4-5 times that of the HL characters, with the important characters up to 3 times that of a smaller character. Facial animation is huge, too. Doesn't matter how automated your system is, you still have to animate each phoneme before you can put them together to look good.

I'll use this example: Raven has almost always kept 3 projects in development simultaneously across three teams. Raven used to be about 30 people (~10 per team) and have maybe 2 designers per project. Our last design meeting, we had over 10 people in there for Quake alone, and the company is reaching the 110 person range. Yet there are still three projects, and they even take longer than before.

Don't judge value of the production by game play time alone... Some of the best games I've played have been to the point. And hell, I'd say it's well worth your $50 - for the manpower put into this title compared to the effectively equally priced HL, you're getting a ridiculously good deal. :wink:

While I'm happy to hear you considering Doom 3, HL2's engine only barely can count as next-gen. True next-gen content creation is even more involved and time consuming. :smile:

The highlights were fighting marines and apache helicopters, whereas Half-Life 2 seems to manage a very unique and memorable scene on almost every map (and I'm not talking about scripted sequences here).

Yeah you are, heh. That game is crazy scripted. :smile: And they should have spent less time on the bird AI and more time on the actual in-game AI. :razz:

KungFuSquirrel said:

Orpheus said:
no HLDM and a 12 hour game after 5 damned years.. valve is beginning to annoy me..

As time goes on, it takes longer and longer and more people to get the content done for a game. Average texture in HL? 128x128 or so. Average texture in HL2? 512x512. You can fit sixteen 128 textures onto the surface area of a 512x512 map. Now they get to paint all of those, and that's not even counting the 1024s. :smile: Minimum character polycount averages in at about 4-5 times that of the HL characters, with the important characters up to 3 times that of a smaller character. Facial animation is huge, too. Doesn't matter how automated your system is, you still have to animate each phoneme before you can put them together to look good.

I'll use this example: Raven has almost always kept 3 projects in development simultaneously across three teams. Raven used to be about 30 people (~10 per team) and have maybe 2 designers per project. Our last design meeting, we had over 10 people in there for Quake alone, and the company is reaching the 110 person range. Yet there are still three projects, and they even take longer than before.

Don't judge value of the production by game play time alone... Some of the best games I've played have been to the point. And hell, I'd say it's well worth your $50 - for the manpower put into this title compared to the effectively equally priced HL, you're getting a ridiculously good deal. :wink:

While I'm happy to hear you considering Doom 3, HL2's engine only barely can count as next-gen. True next-gen content creation is even more involved and time consuming. :smile:

The highlights were fighting marines and apache helicopters, whereas Half-Life 2 seems to manage a very unique and memorable scene on almost every map (and I'm not talking about scripted sequences here).

Yeah you are, heh. That game is crazy scripted. :smile: And they should have spent less time on the bird AI and more time on the actual in-game AI. :razz:

I don't know why, but it seems people (in general) consider "Next-Generation" games to be games with "ground breaking" graphics. I doubt many people think about the AI matrix(s) or anything like that.

The only reason I bought HL2 was because I knew that having a legit copy would mean I oculd play all the mods that will come out without any problems. How good the single player is is pretty irrelevant in my buying decision.

seriously andrew, how hard would it have taken them to add the relevant parts to make HLDM a viable option?

you are one of the few we can trust to get a straight answer about content creation in a game as complex as HL, or any modern FPS..

are we talking months? and millions? or were they just catering to the masses and doing only the CS parts?

truth be told, i don't se me releasing a map within the next couple months, but dangit, i wanted to be able to :sad:

Yeah you are, heh. That game is crazy scripted. :smile: And they should have spent less time on the bird AI and more time on the actual in-game AI. :razz:

No really, I'm not. :smile: I know there's loads of scripted bits, and it's
a very linear game, but I was really taking about the amount of things
you could do in the game, and how often you found yourself doing
something new. In HL2, you have the buggy and airboat sequences,
Ravenholm's focus on the gravity gun, setting up turrets, commanding
ant lions and other humans, the final chapters (no sppilers, but you
must know what I'm talking about). I'm talking about memorable bits
that you were a part of, where you were actually involved, rather than
just watching something unfold in front of you. That's where I think
HL2 really excels, especially over the original.

truth be told, i don't se me releasing a map within the next couple months, but dangit, i wanted to be able to :sad:

Just do some mapping for a community HL2DM mod, such as AG2 or HL2DM.
It won't be too long before they release public FGD's I'm sure, and
there would be no harm using HL2 single player to make and test maps in
the mean time.

ReNo said:
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>truth be told, i don't se me releasing a map within the next couple months, but dangit, i wanted to be able to :sad: </DIV></DIV>

Just do some mapping for a community HL2DM mod, such as AG2 or HL2DM. It won't be too long before they release public FGD's I'm sure, and there would be no harm using HL2 single player to make and test maps in the mean time.

wipes sudden increase of eye moisture

dangit, how can i vent with such reasonable partners.

You could try a wall, I'm pretty certain it won't attempt to reason with you. :biggrin:

I'm almost 30. I freaking luv games and computers. Been doing stuff with them for years.

--The GrandMaster

? quoting Orpheus

son beat game in less than 12 hours.. he says its a great
game, i says 60 bucks and 12 hours does not signify greatness in my
book..

no HLDM and a 12 hour game after 5 damned years.. valve is beginning
to annoy me.. perhaps i will learn to map for doom III, at least it met
all my expectations for a followup game genre'

The game itself rocked though. I think that the reason most of us beat it so quick is because:

1. It just keeps you going. The story and transition are so fluid and dynamic.

2. The action is intense and the maps are just ridiculously huge. (waaay better than Doom3)

3. The characters are not only visually pleasing, but also have great personalities.

A game with this much depth and takes so little time to complete isn't so bad IMO.

It's like a great book you just can't put down. Some people read 400
pages in a day, and spent 25 bucks. So I don't think that logic applies
to good works. :smile:

I'm really amazed at what valve did. They do annoy me a little, but not enough to switch to Doom 3 mapping. LOL!

--The GrandMaster

Kage_Prototype said:
You could try a wall, I'm pretty certain it won't attempt to reason with you. :biggrin:

next time someone asks me why i remain here.. i promise this comment will come to mind :biggrin:

even if i never map again, you guys are enough reason to stay.

Orpheus said:
seriously andrew, how hard would it have taken them to add the relevant parts to make HLDM a viable option?

HL2DM works. It's not officially supported, nor are there any maps, but the framework is still there. I doubt it's very balanced, but it can be done.

you are one of the few we can trust to get a straight answer about content creation in a game as complex as HL, or any modern FPS..

are we talking months? and millions? or were they just catering to the masses and doing only the CS parts?

Yep, for a large scale title like HL2, the time spent on content creation would be ridiculous. I mean, look at every texture in that game as well as every model, down to the smallest detail strewn about the map. Then break something and look at the pieces it shatters into - those all had to be built by hand, too. Facial animation requires a ridiculous amount of bones and vertices (look at the important character models in wireframe and see where there's just rows and rows of 'wasted' polys they need for all the deformation). Any one piece of content can still be done relatively quickly, especially once your team gets into a good groove of content creation (which makes for good times :biggrin: ), but there's just such a huge list of things to make anyway that even if everything was perfect in the first pass, it'd still take years to get the game put together. As it stands, it took years and then who knows how long polishing and tweaking almost every aspect of it.

And when I say polish, I mean polish. I can see why this title took so long. I will openly say that I was not particularly impressed by what I saw as the three main selling points in this game: the AI, the facial animations, and the engine. However, Valve took the time to tweak the hell out of the combat to make it incredibly fun, regardless of AI. They spent the time to make the important characters really stand out and have real depth to them, regardless of how simple some of the facial stuff was. And no matter how simple many of the levels look and how many tricks they employed in sometimes horrible spots to make it run, the art content and art direction of the entire game is so well refined that it covers any weakness in the technology itself. They spent ages getting all that right, and it paid off.

truth be told, i don't se me releasing a map within the next couple months, but dangit, i wanted to be able to :sad:

Well, you're in luck - you can if you want. :smile: The levels in HL2 weren't overly complex. In many cases they got away with box hallways and rooms with just a physics object or two. And all the content is already made for you. :smile: When making the game, Valve was not so fortunate as you to have completed texture sets and art assets for quite a while. In that regards, community development will always have it much easier than the dev teams. Everything you need is already there, which should allow you to do your thing pretty normally. It'll still take longer to make maps, but for MP/DM purposes I sure as hell don't want to play some gargantuan thing where I'll never find anyone to fight, so by keeping the size reasonable you keep the construction time reasonable as well.

I don't know why, but it seems people (in general) consider "Next-Generation" games to be games with "ground breaking" graphics. I doubt many people think about the AI matrix(s) or anything like that.

Even considering AI, HL2 barely qualifies as next-gen. :smile: They really didn't do anything too impressive with it, unfortunately, and with one exception I can think of (Dog's fetching in the grav gun training) most of the cool events were either scripted or hinted by the node placement (which might as well be the same thing - those were called ai_scripted_sequences in HL). There's still artifacts of HL AI in there.

Now please don't get me wrong, I had a tremendously fun time through the game and it ranks among my favorites. But that doesn't change the fact that without laying down a crazy number of entities, the AI still has a hard time navigating the world. :smile:

I made it through in 10 hours, but I assure you I didn't rush it. And nor did it feel like only 10 hours. :smile: I still re-do the math to try and prove myself wrong, but I pulled it off somehow and didn't really miss anything - I was exploring, I was fooling around with stuff, I died, I got lost a couple times, etc. etc. Valve just did an incredible job of keeping the flow so consistent from beginning to end. right from the start, bam, you're in the thick of it. It basically grabs you by the balls from the start and doesn't let go until the end, at which point it kicks you in said balls but in such a good way. :smile:

Ugh. that was so wrong... :razz:

thanx andrew, i feel a bit better knowing they had an excuse at least.

i guess i'll wait for a proper DM like everyone else.. breathlessly.