"The Freeman Returns" with The Official Orange Box Thread
- Thread starter The M.O.B
- Start date
op_ivy said:
As someone else pointed out. HL2 came out the same month as Halo 2. And yet, if people didn't know any better, I think a lot would not question whether this game is "next gen" or not. It very rarely shows it's age.
I gotta say, after being a little underwhelmed by HL2(played it for 2nd time, first time was on xbox) and dissapointed with episode 1... episode 2 really delivers.
TTG I'm with you on portal.
I really liked it, but many of the puzzles were way too simple.
The game is cool little package, but I don't think it is omgwtfbbq good. Oh well, I guess that is what opinions are for!
I finished it a couple times. Once without commentary and then once with it on. I love the commentary mode for these games. In fact I'm about to restart HL2 EP2 with commentary on.
I really liked it, but many of the puzzles were way too simple.
The game is cool little package, but I don't think it is omgwtfbbq good. Oh well, I guess that is what opinions are for!
I finished it a couple times. Once without commentary and then once with it on. I love the commentary mode for these games. In fact I'm about to restart HL2 EP2 with commentary on.
I don't know how people are finishing it so fast. The average completion time is five and a half hours.op_ivy said:
The good news is that Ep2 is substantially longer.
Dr Zhivago
Member
I did Ep 1 in 4 hours and I don't generally rush through games. How on earth did people take 10 hours?
fatty
Member
Just picked up the Orange Box recently even though I still have stand alone versions of HL2 and Episode 1 still sealed on my shelf at home- Im always late to the party (still need to get around to playing Paper Mario
for the N64).
I'm a Half-life noob (only played about an hour into the first game a long time ago) so I decided to start with Half-Life 2 hoping I wouldnt miss out too much on the story from the first game. Right now Im about 2 hours in. Pretty good, started off slow but moving along much better now. I like how interactive the environments are and also the dialogue between the non playable characters.
Very small spoiler:
The small attention to detail is done very well, and I appreciate games that do this. Hearing different distress calls on the radio from other rebel groups adds a nice little touch, a feeling that even though Im alone Im not the only one going through this predicament.
Bad thing is I can only play the game in very short bursts. I get nauseous really easy when playing FPSs (esp. on the computer). Maybe thats one of the reasons why Im not real big on Halo. For some reason though, I havent really been affected when playing the Metroid Prime games, and for this I am very thankful.
Still havent played Portal (or Team Fortress 2) yet, need to play these soon.
Have a question about Steam. When I log in it shows that HL2 is installed (due to hard drive space I havent installed the rest of the games), what stuff is actually being tracked online when Im playing the game, since this isnt an online game? It takes so long for the game to load/start up and Im pretty sure it is because of going through Steam. What about someone who doesnt have the best internet connection, will their experience on this single player game be affected because of it?
My biggest concern is what if something happens to Steam later down the line? To me it seems like there wont be a way to play the game without the service. I understand their reasoning because of copy protection and what not but me being a guy that loves to have physical copies of games to revisit years later, I hate that HL2 requires an internet connection for me to play.
I'm a Half-life noob (only played about an hour into the first game a long time ago) so I decided to start with Half-Life 2 hoping I wouldnt miss out too much on the story from the first game. Right now Im about 2 hours in. Pretty good, started off slow but moving along much better now. I like how interactive the environments are and also the dialogue between the non playable characters.
Very small spoiler:
Is Barney, the guard that leads me to the doctor in the beginning, the same security guard from the first game? Its been a long time but I think that is the same name. Anyways, Im at the point where I got in a mix-up in the transporter so now Ive been slumming around sewers for a bit.
The small attention to detail is done very well, and I appreciate games that do this. Hearing different distress calls on the radio from other rebel groups adds a nice little touch, a feeling that even though Im alone Im not the only one going through this predicament.
Bad thing is I can only play the game in very short bursts. I get nauseous really easy when playing FPSs (esp. on the computer). Maybe thats one of the reasons why Im not real big on Halo. For some reason though, I havent really been affected when playing the Metroid Prime games, and for this I am very thankful.
Still havent played Portal (or Team Fortress 2) yet, need to play these soon.
Have a question about Steam. When I log in it shows that HL2 is installed (due to hard drive space I havent installed the rest of the games), what stuff is actually being tracked online when Im playing the game, since this isnt an online game? It takes so long for the game to load/start up and Im pretty sure it is because of going through Steam. What about someone who doesnt have the best internet connection, will their experience on this single player game be affected because of it?
My biggest concern is what if something happens to Steam later down the line? To me it seems like there wont be a way to play the game without the service. I understand their reasoning because of copy protection and what not but me being a guy that loves to have physical copies of games to revisit years later, I hate that HL2 requires an internet connection for me to play.
RiskyChris
Banned
If Steam is shut down, Valve will release unlock keys for all the games.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
i'll bet hunters are real sons of bitches on hard. i think they pose the challenge that maybe the combine soldiers/civil protection didn't in half-life 2, solving a bit of the complaints about the difficulty drop from the marines in hl1. hunters are just nasty
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Well back then they were all "Barney". But the one that is THE Barney is the one who was seen locked out of a door during the opening tram sequence in HL.fatty said:
again, i post this knowing someone will take offense to the statement, but i think its hilarious that people bitch and moan about the flood in the halo games, yet i almost never hear complaints of the fodder enemies in half-life (head crabs, zombies, antlions, acid ants, etc). i find the half-life fodder enemies far less interesting and more frustrating to fight (mainly because of the health system) and they take up a much larger proportion of the game then halo's flood.
just some of my thoughts (haha, look at my avatar! jk)
just some of my thoughts (haha, look at my avatar! jk)
RubberJohnny
Banned
I hope he's dead
, in Ep2 they really set the Advisors up as the main bad guys that you want to hate, and I think if they made him alive it'd hurt the story - essentially negating everything you did in the first game (well, not everything)
Fireye said:
It always made me "lol" in HL2 when a zombie would catch on fire. Not because, you know, it's a flaming zombie (although that's pretty amusing on its own), but because of how freaking long they run around screaming.
The very first time it happened on Ravenholm I just burst out laughing. Because he ran around screaming, and screaming. And then some more screaming. And then even MORE, before finally keeling over. I was like ":lol :lol " I didn't *know* that I had an expectation regarding how long a zombie on fire should live, but apparently I did, and HL2 zombies greatly exceeded it.
I think they shortened it up in the episodes.
So question for those who've played through Episode 2
I'm at the part where the helicopter chases the car through the train yard. I'm playing on Hard. I'm bringing the gnome with me for the rocket man achievement. How the hell you put the frickin' gnome in the car so he won't fall out! It's driving me crazy!
BravoSuperStar
Member
Salmonax said:
Yeah if you talk to the guards they eventually say something like "catch me after work and i'll buy ya a beer".
This video supposedly explains how to wedge it in the car, but I haven't tried it. I just went very slowly.jetjevons said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnV_C1pg0Oo
Ah, that's kind of what I suspected. Thanks.SuperEnemyCrab said:
So I just completed Episode Two. Here's my rambling stream of thought of it all.
Anyway, I tend to get into it when it comes to a game I really enjoy. I'm glad there's going to be more of Half-Life 2 in the future,
I played Half-Life 2 on the Xbox last year and it became one of my favorite FPS titles ever. However, the two episodes just, to use a tired tired phrase, "take it to the next level." It's not the most graphically intensive game, but that's fine. What's important is that the world is this mix of fantasy and reality. You're very rarely taken out of the action and it's believable when you are. Every character has very humanlike gestures and expressions that do more to add to the realism than more textures ever could.
Of course, what really sets this series apart from other FPS games like Halo or Metroid Prime is the level design. The previous two, as highly praised as they are, feel like video games. In Halo, you play a level, see a cutscene, and go back to the game. In Metroid Prime, there aren't many cutscenes, but the world feels like it was made just to have puzzles for you to solve without feeling very realistic. Half-Life 2 and its episodes are special because there's little break in the action and each puzzle feels like it belongs in the world. For example, things break, so you have to go through corridors and climb along pipes.
And of course, what I think tops it off is the voice acting. Several games do have great voice acting, such as the KOTOR games and Psychonauts, but you're constantly taken away from the game to see the speaking bits for the most part. In Half-Life 2, it happens on the fly. And holy damn does everyone fulfill their part.
Probably my favorite addition to the episodes was having Alyx at my side the entire time. She acts like a real person, and that's rare for a female character in a video game (hell, it's real for ANY character in a video game). Perhaps the best example of this comes early on in Episode One, when you're underground and fighting the zombies without a gun. You turn off the flashlight and hear this zombie-like moaning. I thought, "shit!" because I thought we'd got 'em all and my flashlight was running low on power. So I turn it on and rush towards the rubble only to realize it was Alyx just messing with Gordon. She made other moments in Episode Two feel great during the many shootouts, especially one scene where the combine attack a barn after you free the advisor. I pulled my shotgun out and sprinted towards two of them, using the double blast to kill them all quick-like. It's a great little addition to the moment to hear her say "Great shot, Gordon!"
And of course the ending to the series so far... Holy cow. The strider fight, the successful closing of the portal, and Eli's death. The exchange between Eli and Alyx as Eli is about to die sounds so spontaneous and natural. I wanted to pull away so badly and use my pulse rifle on those sons of bitches.
Of course, what really sets this series apart from other FPS games like Halo or Metroid Prime is the level design. The previous two, as highly praised as they are, feel like video games. In Halo, you play a level, see a cutscene, and go back to the game. In Metroid Prime, there aren't many cutscenes, but the world feels like it was made just to have puzzles for you to solve without feeling very realistic. Half-Life 2 and its episodes are special because there's little break in the action and each puzzle feels like it belongs in the world. For example, things break, so you have to go through corridors and climb along pipes.
And of course, what I think tops it off is the voice acting. Several games do have great voice acting, such as the KOTOR games and Psychonauts, but you're constantly taken away from the game to see the speaking bits for the most part. In Half-Life 2, it happens on the fly. And holy damn does everyone fulfill their part.
Probably my favorite addition to the episodes was having Alyx at my side the entire time. She acts like a real person, and that's rare for a female character in a video game (hell, it's real for ANY character in a video game). Perhaps the best example of this comes early on in Episode One, when you're underground and fighting the zombies without a gun. You turn off the flashlight and hear this zombie-like moaning. I thought, "shit!" because I thought we'd got 'em all and my flashlight was running low on power. So I turn it on and rush towards the rubble only to realize it was Alyx just messing with Gordon. She made other moments in Episode Two feel great during the many shootouts, especially one scene where the combine attack a barn after you free the advisor. I pulled my shotgun out and sprinted towards two of them, using the double blast to kill them all quick-like. It's a great little addition to the moment to hear her say "Great shot, Gordon!"
And of course the ending to the series so far... Holy cow. The strider fight, the successful closing of the portal, and Eli's death. The exchange between Eli and Alyx as Eli is about to die sounds so spontaneous and natural. I wanted to pull away so badly and use my pulse rifle on those sons of bitches.
Anyway, I tend to get into it when it comes to a game I really enjoy. I'm glad there's going to be more of Half-Life 2 in the future,
though it's going to be weird without Eli.
Gnome run complete! wow, the internet made that one sound way harder/tedious than it actually was. In the chopper parts I just left him near the beginning of the area, raced the car over the ramp and returned for him afterwards (chopper gone). Then I did just the same in the second part. It's actually a win-win situation, because you can enjoy the scenery while you're on foot carrying li'l gnome. It was soothing and relaxing.
Hey guys, I'm still playing Half-Life 2 for the first time and it's just fantastic. I'm about four hours in
and I'm having a blast.
I've just got a quick question: is the Lost Cove (I think that's what it's called) from the PC version in the Orange Box? I recall seeing a few videos of it two years ago or so and it looked really fun.
I justed exited Ravenholm... that's seriously one of the best levels of all time
I've just got a quick question: is the Lost Cove (I think that's what it's called) from the PC version in the Orange Box? I recall seeing a few videos of it two years ago or so and it looked really fun.
I've been hard on HL2 in the past because I feel the main guns --the machine guns-- were no fun to shoot. I acknowledge the quality in every other aspect of the game (though I dislike Ravenholm) but having the two major guns in the game be completely unsatisfying to shoot rather harms my opinion of a first person shooter.
With all that said, I loved episode 2. Don't know what it is, but I thought it was more in line with what I hoped HL2 would be. I was pretty much bored with episode 1.
Portal was fun, but waaaaaay too short. I also didn't like how they used non-portal things like momentum for many of the puzzles. Is the idea of portals really that limited? Or are we not used to thinking that way and thus the devs were unable to make portal-centric puzzles? I dunno. Anyway, that was far from a game killer for me. Literally everything else about the game is brilliant. Brilliant. I love it and want more immediately.
TFC took me a little while to get into it, but now I never want to stop playing. Finally a game where my way of playing can actually be successful!
Anyway, awesome games, awesome value, even for someone who isn't nearly as over-the-moon about HL2 as everyone else seems to be.
With all that said, I loved episode 2. Don't know what it is, but I thought it was more in line with what I hoped HL2 would be. I was pretty much bored with episode 1.
Portal was fun, but waaaaaay too short. I also didn't like how they used non-portal things like momentum for many of the puzzles. Is the idea of portals really that limited? Or are we not used to thinking that way and thus the devs were unable to make portal-centric puzzles? I dunno. Anyway, that was far from a game killer for me. Literally everything else about the game is brilliant. Brilliant. I love it and want more immediately.
TFC took me a little while to get into it, but now I never want to stop playing. Finally a game where my way of playing can actually be successful!
Anyway, awesome games, awesome value, even for someone who isn't nearly as over-the-moon about HL2 as everyone else seems to be.
RubberJohnny
Banned
No. It's only a twenty minute tech demo.
You fight some combine and then shoot down a helicopter with a rocket launcher
wartime1020
Member
too hawt.
Darunia said:
Yeah, it definitely wasn't a tough as I thought it would be. The car is really the only challenge. (For the chopper parts, I left the gnome on the sidelines while driving round and round in one spot to get the chopper to drop mines that I could shoot back to kill it. This worked well, aside from the fact that the chopper respawns when you get back near the base)
Revengeance
Member
Finally finished HL2 (for the first time) and the episodes. It was actually my second attempt at HL2 - the first time I gave up 5 minutes into the driving section. I just couldn't grasp the controls. Too much time driving in Halo. This time I pushed past the driving sections, and man was it worth it (although I still think the driving with controller is pretty unintuitive).
Anyway, the games are brilliant. Here are my requests for Episode 3:
1. Some sort of fitting conclusion to this arc. I don't want to wait until the next full game for answers.
2. More Gman! I love the cadence of his speech.
3. Please let me use the blue laser sniper.
4. More combine, less zombie. This is just a personal preference.
Anyway, the games are brilliant. Here are my requests for Episode 3:
1. Some sort of fitting conclusion to this arc. I don't want to wait until the next full game for answers.
2. More Gman! I love the cadence of his speech.
3. Please let me use the blue laser sniper.
4. More combine, less zombie. This is just a personal preference.
The Lamonster
Member
fixed.Revengeance said:
Buttonbasher
Member
Hold Me!wartime1020 said:
too hawt.
fistfulofmetal
Banned
wartime1020 said:
too hawt.
Ehhh, I wanted a plastic companion cube
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
fistfulofmetal said:
I would have preferred that too, to be honest.
The Lamonster
Member
Where did you find this? Nothing about it at the Valve store.wartime1020 said:
too hawt.
Revengeance said:
I just had this in the same area, and i had it once in an earlier level. The way i fixed it was loading a previous full save, since all my auto saves suddenly seemed to crash each time. I haven't saved in ages though, so i'll have to restart it too, and i think i'm near the end of the level now. Doh!
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
Just got the One Bullet achievement for Episode 1 and boy was that fun! Some parts actually felt easier not using a gun, seeing as I could let Alyx do all the work. I thought
I really don't know why people are so hard on Episode 1. It is very short (I'm sure it took me under 3 hours this time, over 3 my first try). I'm glad I didn't try to get it my first play through, seeing as knowing what to do allowed me to fly through it.
the hospital and bringing the citizens to the train area were going to be a pain in the ass, but they were not that hard at all. Bringing the citizens to the train was especially easy because I had forgotten in the area you picked the citizens up there was an unlimited amount of rockets.
I really don't know why people are so hard on Episode 1. It is very short (I'm sure it took me under 3 hours this time, over 3 my first try). I'm glad I didn't try to get it my first play through, seeing as knowing what to do allowed me to fly through it.
I started playing HL2 about 11:30pm last night and went through to 3am and had to force myself away from it in the end. I started up my save in
It's just one awesome after another awesome after another awesome. And why I love it so much is that variety and that, along with the play mechanics, is in a nutshell why it is one of the best fps ever made and as far as I'm concerned the best.
One thing I'm wondering about is the AI. One of the criticisms of the game at release was about the AI yet on my play through I've noticed that the combine can get pretty aggressive sometimes, particularly when trying to flush you out with grenades. Is this merely as a result of upping the difficulty to hard or have they updated the AI in the game?
I get frustrated with the game as well but I don't get this attitude toward the 'health system'. I mean don't mind regen health ala Halo, that's a different design philosophy and I actually quite like it. But trying to paint regen health as some sort of progress in the fps genre is absurd. There's nothing wrong with health packs, most games have them, and playing a game where you don't have the luxury of running behind a pylon and letting your health auto-regen to full after taking a few hits is by no means a bad thing. It encourages you to be more conservative and protective of your health for a start, and I think that's quite good.
Then maybe you should invest in a half decent sub-woofer. The guns in the game have plenty of punch.
Nova Prospekt and went through to Anti-Citizen One.
One minute the combine are shutting the lights off in a Nova Prospekt hallway and firing in these glowing red flares in order to gloomily illuminate the area while they attack - fuck is that incredible. Then there's the army of manhacks that attack you and your squad in a ruined City 17 tunnel. Then there's strider fights to come. There's the phenomenal end level with the powered up grav gun that plays to the narrative and makes you feel like a demigod.
It's just one awesome after another awesome after another awesome. And why I love it so much is that variety and that, along with the play mechanics, is in a nutshell why it is one of the best fps ever made and as far as I'm concerned the best.
One thing I'm wondering about is the AI. One of the criticisms of the game at release was about the AI yet on my play through I've noticed that the combine can get pretty aggressive sometimes, particularly when trying to flush you out with grenades. Is this merely as a result of upping the difficulty to hard or have they updated the AI in the game?
op_ivy said:
I get frustrated with the game as well but I don't get this attitude toward the 'health system'. I mean don't mind regen health ala Halo, that's a different design philosophy and I actually quite like it. But trying to paint regen health as some sort of progress in the fps genre is absurd. There's nothing wrong with health packs, most games have them, and playing a game where you don't have the luxury of running behind a pylon and letting your health auto-regen to full after taking a few hits is by no means a bad thing. It encourages you to be more conservative and protective of your health for a start, and I think that's quite good.
chase said:
Then maybe you should invest in a half decent sub-woofer. The guns in the game have plenty of punch.
Captain Glanton
Banned
fallout said:
Yup. What I like best about Half-Life is that every building feels like it's a unique part of the world. Playing Halo, when I look at the environments I imagine a designer hitting 'copy & paste' on his PC.
Also, Halo doesn't have anything as creepy at the poisonous headcrab's rattle. I hate that sound.
Witchfinder General
punched Wheelchair Mike
xabre said:
The criticism against the machine guns is not their aural presentation (they sound fantastic on my set-up) rather their overall effectiveness. The standard machine gun is all but useless aside from the secondary grenade fire due to the overall weakness of it's attack and the combine gun carries far too little ammo.
Wow, just finished portal in 1 sitting. That was a fucking awesome game. Could have been longer/harder, but still really awesome.
i loved the part after you destroy 1 of the emotion things off the "boss" and he starts shit talking about how no one likes you and how no one will care that your dead :lol
Buttonbasher
Member
He?ColdBlooded33 said:
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
OMFG I JUST BEAT HALF LIFE II WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!
Wow. If I had gotten to that when it first came out, I'd have totally shat.
What a fucking spectacular experience. Holy fucking shit.
On to Episode One.
Wow. If I had gotten to that when it first came out, I'd have totally shat.
What a fucking spectacular experience. Holy fucking shit.
On to Episode One.
BenjaminBirdie said:
That was my reaction too. I was flabbergasted by the last levels and the ending. Episode One is a bit less impressive, but the awesomeness returns in Episode 2.
I'm doing some Portal medal challenges now. I've finished Least Portals, but the rest is proving to be more difficult. I really wish I had a mouse during some of the timed challenges. I haven't started the Least Steps ones yet, I hear those a real, real bitch on the 360.