How Many Gameplay Hours Was Half Life?

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The new Q&A at PHL states that HL2 is about 25 hours long - a very decent amount by current FPS standards (that makes it about 5 hours longer than Far Cry).

Do you guys remember how long it took you to complete the original Half Life? I seem to think that it took me longer than 25 hours but I can't be sure.

Anyways, HL2 having a substantial length as 25 hours makes me very happy. Come to think of it, I just know it'll take me longer because I'll be trying different approaches to different situations.
 
A lot longer. It was my first fps and I was petrified, quickloading if I took even the slightest damage! :eek:
 
First time i done it, it took me 4 days but now i can do it in 1 or 2
 
Hmmm...I wonder what happened to Gabe saying that the game would be "twice as long" as the original. Not that it really matters because the PHL guy could be mistaken in his time estimate.
 
yer, 50 minutes zooming through it ignoring 95% of the stuff
 
The game is still supposedly 36 hours long. I'm sure some playtester was able to finish it around 25 hours, which would mean that even if you are a pro at FPS games it would still take you a good deal of time to finish. (20 to be safe)
 
As long as it averages above 20 hours I am happy. I like to take my time when playing FPS's so I can usually tack on additional 10 hours easily.
 
Gabe said it should take people twice as long as Half-Life because there's more stuff to play with, like physics and such that a lot of testers seemed to be messing around with. There's also multiple way to accomplish problems in Half-Life 2, where in Half-Life 1 there was only a set way of doing things. Once you've completed Half-Life 2 though you should be able to go back through it at the same pace as Half-Life if you ignore physics and stuff.
 
I remember HL1 took me several days to finish. I was very cautious, always breaking absolutely every crate that could be broken and always killing all the enemies that could be killed; I didn't want to miss anything. I used to start my daily session immediately after lunch and to play all night long. One of the many reasons I remember it as a wonderful experience is that when I finally left the underground railway tunnels, the sun was going to rise both in the game and in the real world!
So, if HL2 is longer than HL1, I guess that I'll be playing for no less than a week. I'm totally sure I'll try to arrange all sorts of things with the manipulator, to roam about with the buggy and to explore every room of City 17.
 
Varsity said:
A lot longer. It was my first fps and I was petrified, quickloading if I took even the slightest damage! :eek:
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me too lol... my sister watched me playing and she always got angry because i was shot and quick loaded every time lol... i finished the game with 100 health lol
 
finished halflife , hard at 7-9 hours ;p on 1st time it took me 4-5 days it took only 3 min to quickload
 
I am of the opposing sort of fps player. I quicksave even if I have 5hp left and 2 bullets. This results in though situations and nerve-cracking quickloading after death.
 
since i will be breaking and knocking down every single thing in the game, it will take a lot longer :)
 
Well, I saw a movie with a guy playing Half-Life 1.

He finished the game in 47 minutes... ^^

That was the record =D

BTW, he bh'd the whole game... lol :imu:

Edit:
Here it is the URL to the movie, they have a lot of mirrors in there :D

http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=690685

HF
 
I can beat hl1 in about 10 hours now on hard, but I think it took me about a week when I first played (easy or medium, I can't remember). 25 hours'll be plenty imo.
 
obviously the more pro-gamer people will be out to 'beat' the game as quickly as possible, and skip everything, the average person will probbally end up exploreing more of the immersive factor of the gameplay and enjoy it a bit more which would probbally be the 20 hour 25 hour mark, then you have the people like us who are obsessed, who will spend 90% of the time shooting barrels at other barrels just for the hell of it, then it will probbally take a week to complete :O lol
 
i fully intend for my first play-through of the game to take a long time. like everyone else, im going to soak it is as best i can.
 
I`ll play on hard difficulty so it takes longer to finish :D
 
Lobster said:
obviously the more pro-gamer people will be out to 'beat' the game as quickly as possible, and skip everything, the average person will probbally end up exploreing more of the immersive factor of the gameplay and enjoy it a bit more which would probbally be the 20 hour 25 hour mark, then you have the people like us who are obsessed, who will spend 90% of the time shooting barrels at other barrels just for the hell of it, then it will probbally take a week to complete :O lol
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i will do the same thing dude! LoL

btw, that guy that finished HL1 in 40 min have finished the game a lot more times.. duhhh :p
 
Lobster said:
obviously the more pro-gamer people will be out to 'beat' the game as quickly as possible
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If I happen to read a thread title like "FINISHED!" 24 hours (or less) after the game release date, I'll log in just to tell that "pro-gamer" how stupid he/she will have been. Playing such a long-awaited high-quality game like HL2 as fast as possible could be very similar to watching a great movie masterpiece using the fast forward command.
 
For some reason Half-Life took me longer than most FPS games. Probably around 30 hours my first time through.
 
I just beat Half-Life again this past weekend on Medium and it couldn't have taken me more than 15 hours. I ended the game almost entirely out of ammo and with 4 hp, it was a great time.

My problem is that I have a fear of water (like oceans and lakes, not the bathroom sink) and sea creatures so it took me a couple of hours to get past the parts of the game where I was assaulted by enormous fish while I was swimming. My basic strategy for killing an Ichthyosaur was to pound on the "Fire" button while sliding out of my chair.

Maybe there'll be some way to bybass the sea creatures in HL2.
 
Jarman said:
If I happen to read a thread title like "FINISHED!" 24 hours (or less) after the game release date, I'll log in just to tell that "pro-gamer" how stupid he/she will have been. Playing such a long-awaited high-quality game like HL2 as fast as possible could be very similar to watching a great movie masterpiece using the fast forward command.
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If I'm able to get the game right when it comes out I think I'll try that. What is stupid about that anyway? I plan to play the game more than once, so I'll still see every little thing, shoot every little thing, and kill every friendly NPC (my favourite part :devil: ). I'd rather've beaten the game already before basking in awesomeness, so then I know exactly what to bask at, and know that there's no hiding enemies, thus allowing me to bask without getting shot in the back.

Of course that's on the assumption that I'm able to beat it that quick. It'd definately be a challenge.

Why are you so critical anyway, people can play the game however they want. They pay for it, so let them enjoy the way they like, rather than the way you like. I didn't realize there was supposed to be some universal way to play a game.
 
It took a few days to complete it on my trusty old AMD 450mhz and Savage 4 graphics card. :naughty:

The Xen part was the most frustrating. :rolling:
 
Letterhead said:
My problem is that I have a fear of water (like oceans and lakes, not the bathroom sink) and sea creatures so it took me a couple of hours to get past the parts of the game where I was assaulted by enormous fish while I was swimming. My basic strategy for killing an Ichthyosaur was to pound on the "Fire" button while sliding out of my chair.
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Ahem... I dunno if you have seen the E3 2004 vid. I wonder how you would feel falling down the cliff with the buggy...
 
Varsity said:
A lot longer. It was my first fps and I was petrified, quickloading if I took even the slightest damage! :eek:
Click to expand...

Me too. :)
 
I liked to push my self and see how long i could last with out saving. So naturally i died alot ;(
 
Wiseman said:
If I'm able to get the game right when it comes out I think I'll try that. What is stupid about that anyway? I plan to play the game more than once, so I'll still see every little thing, shoot every little thing, and kill every friendly NPC (my favourite part :devil: ). I'd rather've beaten the game already before basking in awesomeness, so then I know exactly what to bask at, and know that there's no hiding enemies, thus allowing me to bask without getting shot in the back.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine uses to watch horror movies with the fast forward command, in order to avoid getting scared. I always ask him: why in the world do you watch horror movies? People watch them exactly to get scared.

Wiseman said:
Why are you so critical anyway, people can play the game however they want. They pay for it, so let them enjoy the way they like, rather than the way you like. I didn't realize there was supposed to be some universal way to play a game.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. I remember saying this same thing to some people complaining about quicksaving (a feature I find useful). The point is that I use quicksaving because repeating the same sequence over and over tends to be frustrating and hardly fun. Do you think that playing at full speed without talking to anybody in the game is kinda fun?
 
Personally, I don't, but as I said, I'm gonna play it more than once. I just like to bask the second time through. When people play a game (or read a book, or watch a movie) more than once, they tend to notice a lot more little things than they did the first time (foreshadowing, inside-jokes, etc.), and I like to bask in the little things while paying attention to the insider stuff the second time through.

Basically, we're prolly gonna play the game exactly the same, just in a different order. Again, this is my personal way of playing games. I do it in RPGs, RTSs, FPSs, and every other genre. It works for me. Considering it's a matter of oppinion, there can be no better way to play the game that'll apply to everyone.
A friend of mine uses to watch horror movies with the fast forward command, in order to avoid getting scared. I always ask him: why in the world do you watch horror movies? People watch them exactly to get scared.
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That's not quite the same though. I'm still gonna play the game, and pay attention to everything that I find important. I'm just not gonna bother talking to random people on the street, or shooting random barrels. I'm sure the point of FPSs isn't to talk to random people or shoot barrels. Action is usually considered fairly important, and I don't plan on playing stealthy, and I wouldn't skip any relavent plot events if I could.

Again, this is just my opinnion, but I don't see what's wrong about basking the second time through. I'm sure we can all agree it's fairly fun to play around with the engine and talk to every NPC, but can anyone tell me why I (and I mean I, not you) should do this sooner rather than later. I've waited 3 years for this game, I'm sure I can wait a few extra days to shoot barrels and talk to random City-17 residents.
 
Its amazing we have all be waiting 18 months for 25 hours of game play :)
 
Atomi said:
I am of the opposing sort of fps player. I quicksave even if I have 5hp left and 2 bullets. This results in though situations and nerve-cracking quickloading after death.
Click to expand...

me too :)

tcl
 
When playing half-life, I used to save when I had good health and all weapons loaded, then I would rush an area where I knew there would be tons of enemies or a fight between soldiers and aliens, and just throw nades and rockets and shoot everyone in sight, rambo style, see how lucky I was before getting blown up myself :thumbs:
 
Wiseman said:
I'm sure we can all agree it's fairly fun to play around with the engine and talk to every NPC, but can anyone tell me why I (and I mean I, not you) should do this sooner rather than later. I've waited 3 years for this game, I'm sure I can wait a few extra days to shoot barrels and talk to random City-17 residents.
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Okay - in the beginning, I was assuming that some... "pro-gamer" (to put it mildly) will try to finish the game ASAP just to be the first, therefore ruining (IMHO) his/her own experience. Now I am pretty confident you won't be the first, but obviously that's not the point.
Most of us will play the game trying to enjoy it as much as possible, but (IMHO) the first time should be the most accurate because you simply don't know who the "random City-17 residents" actually will be. According to Valve, every face appears just once in the game and you won't be able to recognize the relevant characters at first sight (like the G-Man in HL1, for example). You won't know if a certain barrel will be useful to reach an open window or something, so (IMHO) the most obvious (and satisfactory) approach should be a pretty cautious one.
Moreover, I believe the game should be played in the way it is meant to be played the first time: I assure you I'll laugh out loud when, after shooting Eli in the fake leg, I will see him falling miserably on the floor... but I assure you I won't do it during our first meeting because I feel it would ruin my experience.
 
Jarman said:
I assure you I'll laugh out loud when, after shooting Eli in the fake leg, I will see him falling miserably on the floor..
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, I actually never thought of doing that. :cheese:
 
I think more games need big, honest timeslots next to their saves- I was fairly impressed to find that KotoR took me about 23 hours to finish. Bet some dev's are scared of reviewers finding out how long they really spent playing them... I honestly can't remember how long the original Half-Life took me. I'm sure the Lambda sector caused me to wince a fair bit and probably take time out to sob, but I don't know the details.

As long as HL2 doesn't end up as a Max Payne 2 (size does matter sometimes in my opinion) I think I'll be glad...
 
When i finish installing Half-Life 2 im going to turn off everything that makes sound , then im going to turn my speakers way up and tell everyone to not disturb me. I am going to get in the comphiest position i can and ALL my attention will be on the game :sleep: . Ill load up the game, watch all the logos, stare at the intelligent start up menu before i configure the game...aahhh it will be beautiful! And when the train stops and i walk into City 17 Its Safer Here, i will play the entire game without stopping for anything! 30 or more hours straight of pure Half-Life 2!!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!. :rolleyes: ... :O - what were we talking about again?

Oh yea 25 hours great whatever...Then ill go play CS:S YAY! :D
 
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