this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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Bonus: it also seems that the episodes have been rolled into the base game. Full details of the anniversary update.

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 124 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Cool, but I already bought it like 20 years ago and still have it on steam

[–] goldteeth@lemmy.dbzer0.com 78 points 7 months ago (2 children)

...Think it's too late to get a refund?

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They didn't even do refunds back then

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago

So you're saying there's a chance...

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

I don't think they can refund ATi Half Life 2 tokens.

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 49 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Ye gods, 18 years, 4 months for mine. You'd hope that they'd just automatically stop asking if I'm old enough to view store pages, right?

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 40 points 7 months ago

My account is so old I have (or had, before they normalized the format) a four digit steam ID. I "owned" Half Life 2 for like four months before it released thanks to getting a code free in the box with my Radeon 9800 Pro back in the day. For a short and glorious flash of time in the summer of 2004, I was guaranteed a copy of the most hotly anticipated game ever, even though nobody could play it yet, and also owned an example of the fastest video card on the planet. Damned if I didn't mow a fuckton of lawns and reinstall Windows and Outlook an a horde of septuagenarians' computers to afford that card.

And no, they do not stop asking about your age.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 7 months ago

My account turned 21 a couple months ago. They really should just go "yeah, it's fine" and don't ask

[–] FilthyHands@sh.itjust.works 24 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

My steam account just turned 20. Fugggggg

edit: just double checked... 21 years of service.

i'm old

[–] naticus@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Oh hell, mine too back in August. Guess I'll have to take it out drinking next year.

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Originally played on orange box on the 360, I’m surprised I didn’t already have it on steam. Glad I stumbled on this post

[–] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Holy crap, someone who actually didn't have it yet!

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mean I do, just not on steam

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 113 points 7 months ago (10 children)

Neat, but.

Even HL: Alyx left us with just as much of a cliffhanger as the end of HL2 Episode 2...

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 42 points 7 months ago (1 children)

“Best I can do I more cliffhangers”

-valve probably

[–] Jeffool@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Even if they do repeat 3 (and I kinda feel they will,) it'll have a cliffhanger too. And I'm okay with that.

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[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 48 points 7 months ago

Ah, this is why I come to lemmy.

Thank you kind user!

[–] missingno@fedia.io 44 points 7 months ago (6 children)

This new edition concludes the Half-Life 2 development story, with never-before-seen concept art from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.

Not that it should be a surprise to anyone, but is this the first time Valve has openly admitted that Episode 3 is officially cancelled?

[–] Kingofthezyx@lemm.ee 22 points 7 months ago (2 children)

from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.

Emphasis mine. They mean HL2 Ep 3 was planned and canceled. Not HL3.

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[–] BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca 20 points 7 months ago

They've admitted to cancelling ideas before, getting to various stages of production before going back to the drawing board, but always (and appear to still) insist that it is in development on some level. That's why Newell's responses to questions about hl3 are usually some form of "we have nothing new to share." Valve doesn't like sharing until they're in the final stages of development, and hl3 has never made it that far.

[–] silverchase@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 months ago

They have mentioned before that they gave up on episodic development, which tacitly ditches Episode 3. The episodes ended up not being that much easier or faster to make and in a time when PC games in retail was still kind of relevant, it was a pain to make, distribute, and get shelf space for.

[–] secret300@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 7 months ago

Only those ideas and experiments never came to be. There's still hope

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[–] lolrightythen@lemmy.world 32 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] Janovich@lemmy.world 52 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Finally Alf-Life 2. I was going we’d get a sequel for our cat eating alien roommate.

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Hey, yeah, about that cat...

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[–] pikmeir@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago (15 children)

Never played any of these before. Do I start with this one or would I need 1?

[–] Romkslrqusz@lemm.ee 44 points 7 months ago (2 children)

In terms of storyline, it doesn’t really matter too much.

I still think you should play through the first one. If you need something that feels less 1998, Black Mesa is a remake of the original Half Life and it is very fun.

[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 18 points 7 months ago

FYI, Black Mesa is currently on sale for $4.99, absolute steal at that price.

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Maybe it's because I played them too late, but while I mostly had a blast playing HL2, the first one never clicked for me.

I know, it's been very influential and new when it released, but it was still quite straight a FPS game. Whereas HL2 is like a crazy theme park of different ambiences and mechanics.

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[–] Masta_Chief@lemmy.world 32 points 7 months ago (8 children)

Imo the best enjoyment to time ratio is:

  1. Black Mesa (the Xen level at the end was redone and extended compared to in HL1 and it's cool but if it starts to drag just move on)

  2. HL2 (main game)

  3. HL2: EP1 start it but maybe skip and watch a playthrough if you get bored

  4. HL2: EP2

  5. HL Alyx, if you can play it on a decent headset. DO NOT MOD IT TO PLAY IT WITH MOUSE/KB it will be extremely boring since it's designed for VR

Have fun, there's simply nothing else like Half-Life games

[–] 31337@sh.itjust.works 7 points 7 months ago

I remember liking Opposing Force and Blue Shift too.

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[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

If you start with the second one you won't know what's going on and feel like you've missed a bunch of important story.

This is how it felt after playing the first one as well. Half Life 2 is almost an unrelated game. The plots of the two barely line up.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago

They each stand completely on their own. Start with 1 if you want the whole lore and like 90s PC games. Start with 2 if you want a slightly more modern experience.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you're gonna start with 1, I recommend playing Black Mesa as the updated graphics and qol stuff make it easier to tolerate in modern times.

But that's just me. There is probably some crucial reason why Black Mesa is not the definitive version, and I'm about to hear why

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Hl1 and hl2 are not really connected plotwise and can be enjoyed separately. There's some small references and a couple characters you wouldn't necessarily know even if you played HL1, because HL1 didn't have much of a focus on that kind of story-telling.

The series is certainly a must play because of how much it influenced the industry. Going back to it now may not seem like it's all that great; but you gotta keep in mind, it was one of the very first FPS games designed this way. Before Half-Life, FPS games were all just basically Doom clones.

[–] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 7 points 7 months ago

Start with 1

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[–] germtm_@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

us Half-Life fans are eating good this month. first, we get Project Borealis Prologue, and now HL2 update and the game going free to own for a limited time. i am so going to enjoy checking the update out. and the documentary as well.

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[–] PanArab@lemm.ee 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thanks good fellow. I never actually played it before.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago (6 children)

is real good. and stands up too. still as good today as it was 20 years ago.

except the bridge level.

Fuck the bridge level.

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[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

Hell yeah! Commentary! Looks like I'm replaying it for the 100th time.

[–] secret300@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Yo after all this time I never bought episode 1 or 2. I'm playing the fuck outta it

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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 12 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Huh? I wanted to see whether Portal 1 and 2 are free as well to recommend them to family and friends but for the life of me I can't figure it out. They don't show any info on purchasing them whether I'm logged in or not.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 23 points 7 months ago

It says they're at full price to me; it's the HL2 anniversary, after all. The Orange Box as a whole is 90% off though.

[–] Pyro@programming.dev 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's a better deal to just get the Orange Box bundle because it is 90% off.

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[–] greencactus@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

You're amazing! Thanks for sharing!

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 7 months ago

Hmmm... I guess it has been over a decade. Maybe it's time to play HL2 again.

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