So Steam is practically Ancient in computer years...

mullet said:
Yeah HL2 (never played HL1) was so awesome to me as well.

I would buy HL3 for $500.00 a copy if they made it.
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Half-Life is better than Half-Life 2...

I didn't get Steam until HL2 came out. I had a Geforce 6800 at the time. Soft Modded for extra rendering pipes and texture units.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'm kind of interested in the history here.

My join date was in November 2003. Early, but not as early as some of you. I have the 17 digit Steam ID.

I wonder what happened.

I'm guessing they started with sequential Steam ID's for new users, but at some point after September 2003 moved to randomized 17 digit ones?
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There is 3 types of steam id,

you can find the different ones tied to yours at
https://steamid.io/lookup/
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'm kind of interested in the history here.

My join date was in November 2003. Early, but not as early as some of you. I have the 17 digit Steam ID.

I wonder what happened.

I'm guessing they started with sequential Steam ID's for new users, but at some point after September 2003 moved to randomized 17 digit ones?
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There are different types of steam id's.

original was sequential.

https://steamid.io/lookup/76561197960431659
 
About the hit the 19 year mark myself, just a few weeks younger than some of you here.

1663987390481.png


My original steamID is 6 digits, before they moved it over to ID3 then 64.
 
chameleoneel said:
Half-Life is better than Half-Life 2...
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Not sure I agree in an absolute apples to apples comparison.

The original Half Life was amazing for its time, but that was the 90's. Games had very little in the way of story and character development. Half Life stood out because it had more than its contemporaries, but still by modern standards its a bit sparse. The likes of - for instance Deus Ex two years later in 2000, took this to a whole new level. Still a little weak by modern standards, but a whole new level for its time.

Half Life 2 came out in 2004, 6 years after the original. It had much better developed characters and back stories, and more of a story element to it. They even tried to back-load some story onto the original "haha, Gordon, do you remember that time you crawled through the ducts to get my keys when I was locked out of my office". (I'm paraphrasing, I haven't played Half Life 2 in probably over 10 years, so bear with me)

There was more story, and more character development than the original Half Life, but it also stood out less in 2004, as the entire game industry had started moving in that direction. Again, not as much as today, but much more so than in the 90's.

Even Half Life 2 can feel a little sparse by modern standards if you go back and play it.

The original Half Life was great because it was so different and new compared to what was on the market at the time, but the market changed.

That said, a comparison against contemporaries is really how most things should be rated.

The early 2000's was all over the place in this regard. Some games like Deus Ex and Half Life 2 started pushing the story based element of games, whereas others like the original Far Cry, used the old model of sparse story and just a lot of shooting.

I don't think it was until the second half of the 2000's, with the likes of Crysis, that games with more story elements to them really were cemented as the norm. Still there were exceptions. 2011's "Hard Reset" marked a return to the old dumb Doom/Quake style run and gun gibfest.
 
Half the fun of Half-life (no pun) for me was it came with Hammer editor bundled in - I might have spent more time making maps than I did playing the game
 
staknhalo said:
Half the fun of Half-life (no pun) for me was it came with Hammer editor bundled in - I might have spent more time making maps than I did playing the game
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Huh. I completely missed this.

Other notes on Half-Life for me at least was that in 1998, I thought that game was HARD.

(I'm not going to bother with a spoiler tag, because the game ins 24 years old now, so stop reading here if you don't want spoilers)

I mean, battling through the below ground levels after the accident, only to get to the surface and find that the army is now trying to kill everyone as well, to hush things up was shocking and difficult. I remember it felt like it took seemingly forever to reach the surface and thinking the game would now be over, only to have to start running from the military.

When I re-played it, it was really surprising. The game felt WAY too easy, even on Hard difficulty level.

Not sure what made the difference. Maybe it was my several years of Counter-Strike and other competitive games in between, or maybe it was the better hardware. After all I was running on a Voodoo 1 back then. Who knows what framerate I was getting. Things that are challenging at 25fps can be quite simple at 60+

Suffice it to say, going back, the game felt dirt simple whereas the first time around in 1998 it felt like a real challenge.

I liked what they did in Black Mesa. The whole game felt much more modern. I think they may have balanced it a little more too, as I don't recall having the same "dirt simple" feeling when I played through Black Mesa.

Today, I'd argue there is little reason to go back and play the original game as it was in 1998, because black mesa gives you the same experience in every way, but better. The last few levels/battles are a little different (and wuite improved IMHO) but they still don't screw with the endings.

Speaking of endings...

(here is another chance to stop reading before I go into more spoilers)

I remember feeling that Half Life 2 started all weird compared to where Half Life left off.

At the end of Half Life the G-Man offers you a job. Turn down his offer, you get teleported into a room with enough monsters to be unwinnable and you die. Accept the job and you survive.

The beginning of Half Life 2 does nowhere near enough to explain what happened in those intervening years, and why you are no longer working for the G-Man. You are just dumped in this world where there is some sort of authoritarian regime, and the aliens are trying to take over. Who knows how much later it is, why you are no longer a government "employee" and what happened after the events at Black Mesa that explain where you are now.

This is the type of stuff I am talking about. Even with the "more story" in HL2, there is very little story, you are just kind of find yourself on a train in this environment and are expected to start fighting.

At least that's my recollection (but it has been many years since I played HL2)

Did I maybe accidentally skip an intro or something?
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Not sure I agree in an absolute apples to apples comparison.

The original Half Life was amazing for its time, but that was the 90's. Games had very little in the way of story and character development. Half Life stood out because it had more than its contemporaries, but still by modern standards its a bit sparse. The likes of - for instance Deus Ex two years later in 2000, took this to a whole new level. Still a little weak by modern standards, but a whole new level for its time.

Half Life 2 came out in 2004, 6 years after the original. It had much better developed characters and back stories, and more of a story element to it. They even tried to back-load some story onto the original "haha, Gordon, do you remember that time you crawled through the ducts to get my keys when I was locked out of my office". (I'm paraphrasing, I haven't played Half Life 2 in probably over 10 years, so bear with me)

There was more story, and more character development than the original Half Life, but it also stood out less in 2004, as the entire game industry had started moving in that direction. Again, not as much as today, but much more so than in the 90's.

Even Half Life 2 can feel a little sparse by modern standards if you go back and play it.

The original Half Life was great because it was so different and new compared to what was on the market at the time, but the market changed.

That said, a comparison against contemporaries is really how most things should be rated.

The early 2000's was all over the place in this regard. Some games like Deus Ex and Half Life 2 started pushing the story based element of games, whereas others like the original Far Cry, used the old model of sparse story and just a lot of shooting.

I don't think it was until the second half of the 2000's, with the likes of Crysis, that games with more story elements to them really were cemented as the norm. Still there were exceptions. 2011's "Hard Reset" marked a return to the old dumb Doom/Quake style run and gun gibfest.
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I played Half-Life for the first time, about 1 month before Half-Life 2 released.
While some of the things you said about HL2 are technically true----- IMO, it doesn't really matter much, for the actual game which you play. The game doesn't set the story for you. And while you can pick up some of it from posters and other stuff in the environment---I didn't really see most of that stuff. So I didn't really know what/why, about the Combine. Most of the game you are running around killing stuff, pretty much separated from any meaningful story beats. And then the end section of the game tries to steer you back into the story and just about when it feels like some stuff is coming together-----the game abruptly ends. I wasn't a fan of that.

There are also some things about HL2 which are just plain bad, affecting non-trivial aspects of the game. First of all, upon release, the supposedly smart/advanced Combine AI, was broken. Its something they eventually more/less fixed (not every quickly). But, even to this day, I still have more fun with the Marines in HL1.
And the offroad buggy which you spend like 1/4 of the game in, SUCKS. It is the worst controlling vehicle ever. And it really stuck out to me, because at the time I was playing Battlefield 2, which has wonderfull KBM controls for jeeps and offroad buggys. I really hate that section of HL2.

The boat earlier in the game is fine, and that section is pretty good.

HL1 also has better enemy variety, better uses for its weapons, and ties it all together to setup more dynamic encounters.
As 'advanced' as HL2 is supposed to be----its still mostly relying on what was still cool and unique about HL1. But sort of failed to deliver it in as cohesive an experience.

HL2: Episode 2 is the game I wanted HL2 to be. And for me, manages to be as good as HL1 and maybe more/less better.
 
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chameleoneel said:
There are also some things about HL2 which are just plain bad, affecting non-trivial aspects of the game. First of all, upon release, the supposedly smart/advanced Combine AI, was broken. Its something they eventually more/less fixed (not every quickly). But, even to this day, I still have more fun with the Marines in HL1.
And the offroad buggy which you spend like 1/4 of the game in, SUCKS. It is the worst controlling vehicle ever. And it really stuck out to me, because at the time I was playing Battlefield 2, which has wonderfull KBM controls for jeeps and offroad buggys. I really hate that section of HL2.

The boat earlier in the game is fine, and that section is pretty good.

HL1 also has better enemy variety, better uses for its weapons, and ties it all together to setup more dynamic encounters.
As 'advanced' as HL2 is supposed to be----its still mostly relying on what was still cool and unique about HL1. But sort of failed to deliver it in as cohesive an experience.

HL2: Episode 2 is the game I wanted HL2 to be. And for me, manages to be as good as HL1 and maybe more/less better.
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Honestly, I can't remember those distinctions. It's been too long.

I remember thinking Episode 2 was fine, but I remember being a little annoyed at how much I had paid for something that was reusing the engine and many of the models and textures for like 3 hours of gameplay.

(I have 6 hours logged in Steam, but as I recall that was across two playthroughs, one initial, and then a replay a few years later)

I can't remember how much I paid for it. It certainly wasn't as much as a brand new game, more like a DLC addon, but even for a DLC addon it was excessively short. I remember being pissed and totally feeling like I did not get even close to my moneys worth. Like they were just nickel and diming their customers.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Honestly, I can't remember those distinctions. It's been too long.

I remember thinking Episode 2 was fine, but I remember being a little annoyed at how much I had paid for something that was reusing the engine and many of the models and textures for like 3 hours of gameplay.

(I have 6 hours logged in Steam, but as I recall that was across two playthroughs, one initial, and then a replay a few years later)

I can't remember how much I paid for it. It certainly wasn't as much as a brand new game, more like a DLC addon, but even for a DLC addon it was excessively short. I remember being pissed and totally feeling like I did not get even close to my moneys worth. Like they were just nickel and diming their customers.
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Episode 1 was around 3-4 hours. Episode 2 around 6 hours. Episode 1 was $20, Episode 2 was included in the Orange Box. The Orange Box was $50 if I recall and came with Portal and TF2 as well as HL2 and Episode 1.

I enjoyed Portal and of course Episode 2 but never cared for TF2. Value wise it wasn't that good in retrospect because I already have HL2 and Episode 1. $30 would have been a better value for me.
 
Flogger23m said:
Episode 1 was around 3-4 hours. Episode 2 around 6 hours. Episode 1 was $20, Episode 2 was included in the Orange Box. The Orange Box was $50 if I recall and came with Portal and TF2 as well as HL2 and Episode 1.

I enjoyed Portal and of course Episode 2 but never cared for TF2. Value wise it wasn't that good in retrospect because I already have HL2 and Episode 1. $30 would have been a better value for me.
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Portal is one of the all time best games. All the value I needed, right there.
 
TF2 is one of my fav + most played games (don't play anymore but did for about 7+ years) - I think I really only played 2fort though for all those years lol - but I switched up the classes at least.

I loved Portal also. When I beat the game and then (without it being spoiled beforehand) that end song kicked in 😚🤌

Orange Box was a hell of a bargain IMO but Ep2 was the weakest thing in there to me

I wasn't a fan of the HL2 episodes - we see how that turned out (unfinished and unresolved)

Both HL1 and HL2 were a blast - not ground breaking to me but a blast nonetheless
 
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Flogger23m said:
Episode 1 was around 3-4 hours. Episode 2 around 6 hours. Episode 1 was $20, Episode 2 was included in the Orange Box. The Orange Box was $50 if I recall and came with Portal and TF2 as well as HL2 and Episode 1.

I enjoyed Portal and of course Episode 2 but never cared for TF2. Value wise it wasn't that good in retrospect because I already have HL2 and Episode 1. $30 would have been a better value for me.
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I had thought my old Steam purchase history was gone, but it turns out it was still there.

Looks like I can't remember shit anymore. Transaction records set things at least a little bit straight.

I took a break from the [H], building computers and playing games for about 5 years from 2005 to 2010. I didn't buy the episodes until I returned. Got both of them in a "Half Life 2: Episode Pack" (which no longer exists on Steam) for $20. I guess at $10 per episode I shouldn't be TOO offended, but still, they had been out for a few years at that point.

Still, at this point I am used to getting 80 hours out of an open world single player story based FPS, and while the new price is usually $60, I often don't buy them until $29.99 or lower.
 
I've never returned a game on Steam.

Am I retarded? Some of this shit is really shitty.
 
chameleoneel said:
Portal is one of the all time best games. All the value I needed, right there.
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I liked Portal. It was a cute little casual game, but it was funny too. Lots of memorable hilarious moments.

staknhalo said:
I loved Portal also. When I beat the game and then (without it being spoiled beforehand) that end song kicked in 😚🤌
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Yeah, that was probably the best part, but the little hole in the wall with "the cake is a lie" scribbled all over it was amazing too. As was the "weighted companion cube" :p

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I'm not sure I would call it "the best" but it was certainly memorable.
 
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I find the use of the term "service" to be somewhat amusing.

What, if we hit 20, do we get to retire with benefits? :p
 
I was forced onto steam when I bought Halflife 2 episode 1. Despite being a disc, this disc was just a steam installer. I was super pissed off about it. Today, not so much.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I liked Portal. It was a cute little casual game, but it was funny too. Lots of memorable hilarious moments.



Yeah, that was probably the best part, but the little hole in the wall with "the cake is a lie" scribbled all over it was amazing too. As was the "weighted companion cube" :p

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I'm not sure I would call it "the best" but it was certainly memorable.
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I replayed Portal last year (and streamed it) And it only re-affirmed my opinion of it.

I also played Portal 2 for the first time. I originally bought the PS3 version upon release (which came with a PC steam key). But it was stolen during a time when I was moving. And I never played it.
A very solid sequel.

The recent mod Portal: Reloaded, is pretty great.
 
HL1 is still a great game if you play it now while HL2 was a series of well polished fun gimmicks.

Valve "invented" TF2 hats and then decided they were too rich and/or too cool to make games afterwards. They were like man we spent so much effort on L4D but made more money on hats let's quit.

Also only 5 digits or less = legit
 
The android app? Never used it for that account, I have logged in to that one last year or so?
 
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