"The Freeman Returns" with The Official Orange Box Thread
- Thread starter The M.O.B
- Start date
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
Slavik81 said:
I played the original and both episodes back to back, and I thought the worst part was
the beginning of Episode 2 until the stand off in tunnels with the flashing lights, right before Alyx is saved
Before playing all three, I had heard a lot of talk that Episode 1 was the weakest of the three, and I feel I just don't agree. Although Episode 2 does have some fantastic parts, so does Episode 1. Although the final part of Episode 1 was my least favorite of the three
Having to avoid the strider while trying to get the other side of the train was a blast
fistfulofmetal
Banned
Slavik81 said:
The fuck?
Captain Glanton
Banned
Thanks guys, but you're not exactly changing my opinion here. 
I just can't believe I'm ready to 'move on' from a game [collection] I've been salivating over for so long. Poor game design and poor reviews [Edit: meaning that teased me along] make Hulk sad.
I just can't believe I'm ready to 'move on' from a game [collection] I've been salivating over for so long. Poor game design and poor reviews [Edit: meaning that teased me along] make Hulk sad.
Gamer @ Heart
Member
Im still having A SHIT LOAD of trouble finding smooth games in team fortress 2 and when i do IM FUCKING KICKED OUT OF 50 % of them. I want to love this game but its not letting me. Fix this shit valve.
Buttonbasher
Member
Just stick around for Episode 2. Just Do it. Nike dude. Nike.Captain Glanton said:Thanks guys, but you're not exactly changing my opinion here.
I just can't believe I'm ready to 'move on' from a game [collection] I've been salivating over for so long. Poor game design and poor reviews make Hulk sad.
fistfulofmetal
Banned
Yeah, I think you're mistaking poor game design for you not liking the design they choose. Those two things are completely different.
Also, some of your complaints are unfounded.
Platforming? Like... when?
Lame puzzles, again it's your preference not poor game design.
Infinite enemy respawn, the only enemies that infinitely respawn are the antlions from their burrows. No other enemies do that
Silent grenades, I don't understand this at all. Are they supposed to hum? Or beep? They do have a bright red light so you can see them, so I don't get what the complaint is.
The only part of that section even resembles your last complaint is the final section of the parking garage. The enemies spawn all around you and you have to manage your flashlight/weapons to survive as the elevator comes down.
Also, some of your complaints are unfounded.
Getting shot? There aren't any Combine in that part of the game.
Platforming? Like... when?
Lame puzzles, again it's your preference not poor game design.
Infinite enemy respawn, the only enemies that infinitely respawn are the antlions from their burrows. No other enemies do that
Silent grenades, I don't understand this at all. Are they supposed to hum? Or beep? They do have a bright red light so you can see them, so I don't get what the complaint is.
The only part of that section even resembles your last complaint is the final section of the parking garage. The enemies spawn all around you and you have to manage your flashlight/weapons to survive as the elevator comes down.
Bailey's Dad
Banned
Excuse my ignorance but does Orange Box include the full game of Half Life 2?
Bailey's Dad
Banned
urk said:
Oh my. I've never played any version of Half Life 2 and this seems like terrific value. I was going to get COD4 instead but this might be the better purchase. I have a 360 but I would prefer to buy the PS3 version. Is it looking to be as solid a version as the 360 one?
Captain Glanton
Banned
fistfulofmetal said:
My complaints about the platforming and respawning enemies were from the Citadel. I found myself charging across empty rooms at Combine with a "gun" with roughly a ten foot range, getting shot all the while, and if there was an end to them I finished the platforming or engery ball shooting before reaching it. Or, for example, while taking that platform down into the Citadel, when the debris falls on you, I had to replay one section roughly 15-20 times, because even though I blasted the debris and it shifted away from me, it still registered as 'hitting' me and gave me an instant death.
The grenades do make noise, sometimes. They click down to detonation, but in that elevator fight I was fighting zombies when suddenly, without warning, the screen would just turn red because a grenade had gone off. Zombies can turn themselves into suicide bombers, and the game hasn't given me an effective long distance weapon? To me, that's shit design.
Obviously, I've made it until the end [evidently] of this opening section, but it's been such an awful experience that right now I honestly don't want go on. If the game were called anything else, I'd write it off as wasted money and trade it in, no question. Because it's Half-Life, I came here to get some encouragement to press on.
Bailey's Dad said:
Not sure on the PS3 version. Obviously Valve's intent is to make the two versions as close as possible. At the very least, the gameplay should be there.
It is a great value. Episode 2 alone is one of the better gaming experiences you'll have all year if you enjoy FPS's. It's really an amazing game all the way around.
Bailey's Dad
Banned
Thanks for your help, Urk. One more thing. What's the release date?
fistfulofmetal
Banned
Captain Glanton said:
Enemies in that section never respawned infinitely. Ever. All enemies spawn behind the areas where you cannot enter (the hallways with the transparent blue shield), and they spawn a certain amount before you kill them all. You charging at enemies without a gun is your inability to figure out how to properly tackle a situation. The last part is an anomaly that I've never experienced. Unless your copy of the game is broken, I can't comment on it because it never happened to me, even once. Every time I blew the debris away is dissolved into nothing so it wouldn't come back down and kill me.
Grenades make no noise. You say they do sometimes, which pretty much means to me that you think they do. In that part of the game, you're given a pistol and a shotgun. Both are perfectly capable of taking down enemies at a far enough distance where you're not in danger from the grenade toting zombines. You claiming that it happens without warning is wrong. What is happening is you not paying enough attention to what's going on around you to notice a zombine has snuck up behind you. Simple. Learn how to play better and the problem is solved.
fistfulofmetal
Banned
Doytch said:
Correct. It's designed to quicken and game and prevent stalemates. The better your time is doing, the quicker your respawns are.
Dr Zhivago
Member
fistfulofmetal said:
That only happens if you shoot the debris into one of the energy streams. If you shoot it straight up it can fall back down & kill you.
Fallout-NL
Member
Dr Zhivago said:
You'd have to be seriously unlucky for that to happen.
Captain Glanton
Banned
fistfulofmetal said:
Well gosh, Boss, color me stupid then, because when I'm on one side of an open room, and I only have that ubergravity gun, and soldiers are already shooting me as I enter the room from outside the range of my "gun," what should I do?
Or what about the section in the parking garage where the zombies spawned behind us, even though the only door was the one we'd just come through? The entire section reminded me of Doom 3, except that at least in that game there was a reason the monsters could materialize out of thin air.
Just because the game's called Half-Life doesn't mean that everything about it is perfect.
Fallout-NL said:
I had it happen multiple times when I saw the debris shift to the right, away from me, and it was still killing me. I even started grabbing an energy ball and using that to shoot the debris. It actually works, and the debris would shift away from the platform, but it somehow still killed me.
Notorious_Roy
Member
I really want to play Portal for Xbox 360 but I don't really feel like buying the box @ 55 euro (minimum price in Holland 
) I saw that the Asian version is a lot cheaper (Play-Asia), but it doensn't have any regional info and also the releasedate is missing.
Can somebody tell me if the Asian version of the Orange Box for 360 is regional free and what the release date is?
I was also thinking about getting the PS3 version, which is regional free by default, but I don't like the Sixaxis with first person games.
) I saw that the Asian version is a lot cheaper (Play-Asia), but it doensn't have any regional info and also the releasedate is missing.Can somebody tell me if the Asian version of the Orange Box for 360 is regional free and what the release date is?
I was also thinking about getting the PS3 version, which is regional free by default, but I don't like the Sixaxis with first person games.
fistfulofmetal
Banned
Captain Glanton said:
What should you do? Go back to the room with the Core and grab an energy ball to shoot at the enemies, or sprint towards an enemy and grab him then use him as a shield to get close to the next and shoot the dead soldier at him. There's dozens of strategies to getting through that part of the game. Just because you weren't able to figure them out doesn't equate to shit design.
And I never said HL was perfect, the problem is that some of your complaints are silly and sometimes factually wrong.
You know what's fun? Going R2D2 on everyone's ass and responding to their questions with bleeps from the grav gun (when there's nothing around of course).
2 times alt fire = affirmative
1 time primary fire = do not want
Yes I have been playing these games too much
2 times alt fire = affirmative
1 time primary fire = do not want
Yes I have been playing these games too much
Herpes Reasons
Banned
damn, the lag for TF2 yesterday was just plain horrendous and unbearable.
I'm on chapter 5 of episode 2 right now this is so good. I'm actually a bit scared to fight hunters! :lol Never been scared of any battle in HL2 or Episode 1.
Out of curiosity, you do know you can suck enemies in with the gravity gun? Debris too. That's how you go through the section quickly. If you are only zapping I can see its a problem. But you suck in one combine soldier to your gravity gun and fire him at the group and they all go down like bowling pins to a bowling ball. In the elevator section as you are going down I would suck in the big debris first, and then fire it away.
As for the garage I know when you get the last car inside a door you open up there is a combine zombie sitting behind it. It wasn't spawning, it was playing dead till you go for the handle. Could be considered a cheap tactic if you didn't see it.
Captain Glanton said:
Out of curiosity, you do know you can suck enemies in with the gravity gun? Debris too. That's how you go through the section quickly. If you are only zapping I can see its a problem. But you suck in one combine soldier to your gravity gun and fire him at the group and they all go down like bowling pins to a bowling ball. In the elevator section as you are going down I would suck in the big debris first, and then fire it away.
As for the garage I know when you get the last car inside a door you open up there is a combine zombie sitting behind it. It wasn't spawning, it was playing dead till you go for the handle. Could be considered a cheap tactic if you didn't see it.
As far as the elevator section with the debris goes, you're supposed to grab the debris and then fire them off, not just mash the repel button- that will only get you killed.
There are no "monster closets" that I'm aware of, just blocked off sections of rooms and portions of the enviroment that are scripted to break open so monsters can enter.
There is actually an auditory cue when a Zombine pulls out a grenade- not that you should need it. I never get close to the Zombine and, (i.e. make good use of your sprint key)when he did pull one out, it's very noticeable visually. Are you using the enviroment? There's tons of stuff around- flares, explosive stuff, heavy objects, etc.
There are no "monster closets" that I'm aware of, just blocked off sections of rooms and portions of the enviroment that are scripted to break open so monsters can enter.
There is actually an auditory cue when a Zombine pulls out a grenade- not that you should need it. I never get close to the Zombine and, (i.e. make good use of your sprint key)when he did pull one out, it's very noticeable visually. Are you using the enviroment? There's tons of stuff around- flares, explosive stuff, heavy objects, etc.
WHOAguitarninja
Member
Captain Glanton said:
Sounds to me like you're not using the secondary function on the gravity gun very well. In the area with combine, use the "pull" function to take out one or two guys, then shoot him back at the other guys. On the falling debris section, use the pull function of the GG to catch the debris then shoot it off to the side. The section is actually quite easy if you do it that way.
But the pitch black parking garage section IS pretty damn awful. By far my least favorite part of the HL series.
Don't worry...Episode 2 makes up for it and SO much more.
Buttonbasher
Member
:lol I'm glad I'm not the only one.traveler said:
traveler said:
:lol
Actually HL is the only series where the silent protagonist comes off as totally weird to me. Not in a negative way, it just makes you aware of it more than other games. In other games you don't notice it that much because the other people don't directly talk to you or there's no voice acting. But Alyx goes '... right Gordon?' quite a few times and every time that puts emphasis on your mute nature.
Darunia said:
Yeah, it does kinda bother me. Especially moments like the one where she's like:
Alyx: "When I couldn't find you....I got...."
Gordon: "...."
Alyx: (Glances at you meaningfully)
Gordon: "....."
Alyx: "Well, I shoudn't have been...."
Gordon: "......"
Yeah, that was...awkward. :lol
traveler said:
Yeah! That among others. The other night I was thinking how off the wall it would be if Alyx was like 'you go open that door Gordon, I'll guard this part' and suddenly you hear a 'okay, be right back!' or something. Surprise gaming moment of the decade
Captain Glanton
Banned
fistfulofmetal said:
The problem is that I'm arguing with fans. I just came in here to find out if it gets better.
Never mind!
One thing I dont like about these Half Life games are the lack of enemy reactions. Point blank shotgun blasts do NOTHING if the creature doesn't die. Frustrating and unsatisfying beyond belief. Hitting creatures does not feel good, and even a head shot wont take guys down right away with most guns.
Lack of reactions also mean they are forced to shove tons of health packs at you. It's basically impossible to get out of most fire fights without getting shot, since if you can shoot them, they can shoot you...and zero reactions guarantees you'll be hit. Valve tries to fix this by basically shoving health crates everywhere along with suit armor pieces, suit armor and health stations, and by even having some AI drop health and suit armor.
So basically the game becomes a quest of refilling health, which I suppose is good on some level because it encourages exploration. But it slows the game down too much though IMO.
Other than that, Valve does an AWESOME job of just thinkin up memorable moments. People diss episode 1 a lot, but there were some bad ass moments in that too. Like
. I'm not a fan of half life 2 combat or gameplay, but moments like these make up for it. Console FPS designers should take note
Lack of reactions also mean they are forced to shove tons of health packs at you. It's basically impossible to get out of most fire fights without getting shot, since if you can shoot them, they can shoot you...and zero reactions guarantees you'll be hit. Valve tries to fix this by basically shoving health crates everywhere along with suit armor pieces, suit armor and health stations, and by even having some AI drop health and suit armor.
So basically the game becomes a quest of refilling health, which I suppose is good on some level because it encourages exploration. But it slows the game down too much though IMO.Other than that, Valve does an AWESOME job of just thinkin up memorable moments. People diss episode 1 a lot, but there were some bad ass moments in that too. Like
getting tossed into the citadel by dog, the debris falling into the elevator, the train crash, later getting in an elevator and having it collapse and fall into the water, fighting the chopper thing while in that wooden shack, running away from the strider at the end
Psychotext
Member
Yup, guilty. =)fallout said:
I was always hoping they might notice me doing it and comment. :lol
Question about the "One Free Bullet" achievment on EP1. I'm at the part where
you have to open up the padlock door, I need to shoot the lock from the other side and let Alyx in. I'm guessing this is where I need to use my one bullet? Unless there's a way to break the lock without shooting it.
Corwood Rep
Member
360 version. Help:
Today, I booted up Orange Box. It says there's an update available I need to apply. I apply it.
I can no longer access my HL2 saves. When I go to load game, it says there are no saved games.
The save files are still on the HDD, though. There are 160MB of save files. Is there a way to make the game be able to read them again?
Today, I booted up Orange Box. It says there's an update available I need to apply. I apply it.
I can no longer access my HL2 saves. When I go to load game, it says there are no saved games.
The save files are still on the HDD, though. There are 160MB of save files. Is there a way to make the game be able to read them again?
Corwood Rep
Member
I have 10GB free though. Why would that change anything?
Edit - I deleted Uno and the Fusion Frenzy demo and it still ain't seeing any of my HL2 saves.
I had 10 hours into this game. It's pissing me off that the saves are here and the game can't do anything with them.
Edit - I deleted Uno and the Fusion Frenzy demo and it still ain't seeing any of my HL2 saves.
I had 10 hours into this game. It's pissing me off that the saves are here and the game can't do anything with them.