Valve targets October for Episode Two, TF2 and Portal

I remember when the dates were like:

Ep2: December 2006
Ep3: December 2007

If Ep2 will be same lenght as Ep1, I am not buying Ep3. Because goddamnit, I waited Ep1 for real long, and then I pass the game in 3 hours. And it would've been 2 hours without the escort mission in end...
 
People really don't pay attention, do they?

In any case, Ep2 is supposed to be about two hours longer for a first-run. We've known this for quite a while now. Mind you that time varies person-by-person but whatever.

I also want to point out that any release date speculation is pure silliness. True: Half-Life 2 was delayed after its release date. True: Episode 1 came out on its release date with no issues. (The solid date once it was given, not general delays.) There is only one instance of either happening, so trying to speculate at all about the 'validity' of said date based on a single occurance is nonsense. Unless you count Half-Life, of course, in which case I guess there are two instances of the release date being correct.

Yes, Valve does delay a lot. But then, this happens with just about every big game company I've ever known about. Why people make such a big fuss of it in Valve's case is beyond me. I guess there are just that many more FPS players.

I want to do a bit of math:
Approximate (Low End) Completion Time
Half-Life 2: 12 hrs
Ep1: 4 hrs
Ep2: 6 hrs (pending)
1&2: 10 hrs (17% less)
Development Time
HL2: ~6 years -> 72 months
EP1: 18 months
EP2: 15 months (pending)
1&2: 33 months (54% less)

That's a 37% increase in development time to play time for the episodes in general. And don't give me the 'but they aren't making a new engine' speech, because the list of Source improvements since HL2 is pretty long - and there are some pretty substantial ones on there as well. And many of them scale back to previous games...
 
<3 Silarn.
Also from his information you can tell that the 3 episodes together will be quite a bit longer than HL2 itself.
 
I also didn't include the time playing Portal or the commentary play-through, since some people apparently don't care about either. Price-to-time, Ep1 was about 30 minutes short of equivalent without all that. I feel so cheated. :'(
 
Well done Silarn, thats putting things into perspective. Sadly, it doesnt make the wait any less painfull.
 
Gah... it'll be released half a month after Halo 3. 360 fans might just pass right over this one. :/
 
Yah true, I love both Halo and Half Life, so its a shame both are coming out at the same time. If I can, I'll buy both, but otherwise I have no choice but to get Halo 3, since I still need to make payments for the Legendary Edition (for those that think its a waste of money, to each his own eh?)
 
I also didn't include the time playing Portal or the commentary play-through, since some people apparently don't care about either. Price-to-time, Ep1 was about 30 minutes short of equivalent without all that. I feel so cheated. :'(

The commentary was awesome. I certainly hope they go back and add it in to the previous games, I can just imagine it now.

"Alright, this is where the player first entered Xen, and we wanted it to be a memorable experience that ... oh screw it! Was it magic mushrooms we were high on at the time, Gabe?"
"No, it was marijuana for sure Mark, or maybe crystal meth, I can't quite remember."
:smoking:
 
Back
Top