"The Freeman Returns" with The Official Orange Box Thread

Thermite said:
There is a PS2 version of Half-Life if you don't want to buy it for the PC.
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Aw, dern it. I really didn't want to plug in that motherfucker.

Is there a Mac versio'?

ETA: Having just finished HL2, your avatar is extra-creepy. Thenks.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Aw, dern it. I really didn't want to plug in that motherfucker.

Is there a Mac versio'?
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Nope, no Mac version of Half-Life. :(

BenjaminBirdie said:
ETA: Having just finished HL2, your avatar is extra-creepy. Thenks.
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:lol If you thought the G-Man was creepy in Half-Life 2, wait until you see him in Episode 2.
 
Get Cross Over for the Mac. I have seen it run TF2, so i am sure the original HL1 should be no problem.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
I don't know what that is. I guess I'll look into getting Boot Camp to work. Dern it.
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Yes, boot camp is the better option. Although, it can be a pain in the ass to have to switch over just to play a game.
 
finally got around to playing through ep 2 today..
it was a lot of fun, but holy crap i hated the last battle. i mean, it was epic and exciting enough, but i died way too much for it to be fun. i'm not quite sure what to blame it on, but the car didn't really seem to control well enough for what i needed it to do, and i really hate fighting hunters to begin with, let alone 3 of them beside a strider. it got a little more bearable when i started firing tree stumps at them, since i had otherwise wiped out all my reasonable ammunition. I just stopped having fun and wanted it to end already.
 
Cowie said:
finally got around to playing through ep 2 today..
it was a lot of fun, but holy crap i hated the last battle. i mean, it was epic and exciting enough, but i died way too much for it to be fun. i'm not quite sure what to blame it on, but the car didn't really seem to control well enough for what i needed it to do, and i really hate fighting hunters to begin with, let alone 3 of them beside a strider. it got a little more bearable when i started firing tree stumps at them, since i had otherwise wiped out all my reasonable ammunition. I just stopped having fun and wanted it to end already.
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Ammunition? Just run the bastards over!
 
Wait, I thought Episode One was supposed to be totally lame. Am I playing the wrong one? It seems like the perfect continuation after HL2 maintaining the same level of intensity and adding even more dimensionality to Alyx.

Confused In (or Around) City 17,
Benjamin
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Wait, I thought Episode One was supposed to be totally lame. Am I playing the wrong one? It seems like the perfect continuation after HL2 maintaining the same level of intensity and adding even more dimensionality to Alyx.

Confused In (or Around) City 17,
Benjamin
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lame? it's exactly how you feel it is.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Wait, I thought Episode One was supposed to be totally lame. Am I playing the wrong one? It seems like the perfect continuation after HL2 maintaining the same level of intensity and adding even more dimensionality to Alyx.

Confused In (or Around) City 17,
Benjamin
Click to expand...
Nope. Episode 1 just didn't stray much from Half-Life 2. That's why people were disappointed. Personally, I loved it. It took Half-Life 2 to the extremes it never went to in the main game.

It was really, really tightly knit and worked perfectly. In fact, I liked it more than Episode 2.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Wait, I thought Episode One was supposed to be totally lame. Am I playing the wrong one? It seems like the perfect continuation after HL2 maintaining the same level of intensity and adding even more dimensionality to Alyx.

Confused In (or Around) City 17,
Benjamin
Click to expand...

Oh no, you're playing the correct game. I personally felt that Episode 1 was as good, if not better, than Half-Life 2. I keep going back and forth. The only part that I really didn't enjoy too much was when
you're underground fighting the Zombies in pure darkness
. The rest of the game, and especially the battles that take place in the destroyed streets of the City 17, is just fantastic.
 
I thought EP1 went a bit downhill after the first two chapters, but that's just me. Not enough enemy variation, too many zombies. The
hospital part and Strider fight at the end
were class though.
 
Did anyone else find the first half of episode 2 extremely boring? Valve really needs to stop doing vehicles. The controls are complete crap which detracts from the experience immensely. (BTW this is all on PC.) Episode 3 shows potential, but I'm kind of let down with episode 2. The story has shown little progression to me. Pretty much nothing is being elaborated.

Sorry for the rant. Just feeling let down...
 
Anyone have this happen on TF2? Last night my gun only worked about 2/3rds of the time when I pulled the trigger. I kept having to double-pull the RT to get the gun to work.
 
Wow, I just finished Ep 2. I did cry. :(

The last battle was EPIC! I was driving over the Hunters and yelling each time the Striders got a building. When Alyx spoke of a chopper, I thought that the last chapter would be a chopper sequence and thought it would be cool.

I did love the car sequences, the world seemed a lot bigger with it. It was kind stopping by houses and see what was in there.

I tried to bring the dwarf with me but I lost it when you are at the acid factory and Alyx and the Vortigaunt cover you. I left it at the base but couldn't recover it :(

The last sequence was just perfect for drama purposes. Eli wanting to defend Alyx, his death, Dog coming just a bit too late and then, the final words. Wow.
 
suikodan said:
I tried to bring the dwarf with me but I lost it when you are at the acid factory and Alyx and the Vortigaunt cover you. I left it at the base but couldn't recover it :(
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Aah that sucks. That part's a bit of a trap indeed. I heard it's possible to get him before the door closes, but I made sure I didn't land in that situation. I just grav gun-shot him on the left side of the bridge. No fuss.

btw the bridge is another gman spotting place
 
I finished Half Life 2 over the weekend for the first time, and I never played HL1. I absolutely loved it, and am now about halfway through Episode 1. Over the course of playing through HL2, I never felt like I missed out on anything story-wise by not playing the original until the ending. It dawned on me that I really have no idea what's going on. The beginning of Episode 1 cleared a little bit up, but there's still some confusion. So if one of you would be so kind as to fille me in on a few things:

Who is the creepy G-Man dude?
What is Freeman's relationship with him?
Have the head crabs/zombies just always been around, or did they arrive via spaceship or something?
 
Vik_Vaughn said:
Who is the creepy G-Man dude?
What is Freeman's relationship with him?
Have the head crabs/zombies just always been around, or did they arrive via spaceship or something?
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You know, I could give you an explanation here and vaguely answer your questions, but I feel the only correct answer is: find a pc, play Half-Life 1. It still is a great game after all those years.
 
Darunia said:
You know, I could give you an explanation here and vaguely answer your questions, but I feel the only correct answer is: find a pc, play Half-Life 1. It still is a great game after all those years.
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Or he could, you know, check out Wikipedia.
 
Darunia said:
Yes, but it's worth it getting him to play the original. It's something you must experience at least once, not read about.
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It's also worth going back and looking at the shooters that came out before it on the PC, if only to see just what a quantum leap forward Half-Life was over everything else at the time.
 
LunaticPuma said:
Did anyone else find the first half of episode 2 extremely boring? Valve really needs to stop doing vehicles. The controls are complete crap which detracts from the experience immensely. (BTW this is all on PC.) Episode 3 shows potential, but I'm kind of let down with episode 2. The story has shown little progression to me. Pretty much nothing is being elaborated.

Sorry for the rant. Just feeling let down...
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Nope. I love the vehicle sections. You're actually the first person I've heard who didn't like the vehicle sections on PC. Apparently the console controls are neutered, but I've always felt that the hovercraft level was the second best level in HL2(behind Anticitizen One). And the HL2 virgins I persuaded to buy Orange Box love the vehicle sections too.
 
Vik_Vaughn said:
I finished Half Life 2 over the weekend for the first time, and I never played HL1. I absolutely loved it, and am now about halfway through Episode 1. Over the course of playing through HL2, I never felt like I missed out on anything story-wise by not playing the original until the ending. It dawned on me that I really have no idea what's going on. The beginning of Episode 1 cleared a little bit up, but there's still some confusion. So if one of you would be so kind as to fille me in on a few things:

Who is the creepy G-Man dude?
What is Freeman's relationship with him?
Have the head crabs/zombies just always been around, or did they arrive via spaceship or something?
Click to expand...
http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/timeline.htm Just read until the Episode One stuff.

Regarding G-Man, you wouldn't have been much wiser had you played HL1. ;)
 
that's very cool for you guys. i honestly think you're experiencing a new classic for the first time--something people will be pointing to in ten, twenty years as a seminal work in game storytelling and character development. episode 1 in particular is interesting to talk about simply as a study on game companions and how gameplay should be developed around that concept

very awesome stuff
 
and so much of that story is never tossed up in your face. it's conveyed subtly, through a guy who tells you he thinks there's something in the water; that people can't conceive; through graffiti of a combine soldier holding a baby with "caste" in bright orange letters. it's testament to how much faith they have in this method of storytelling that they have such compelling characters and scenarios but choose to only show you glimpses of what's really going on
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Awesome, thanks. Within three sentences of The Black Mesa Incident I am overcome with a desperate desire to play this as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks a lot.
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I really hope it has aged well enough for you to still enjoy. Just keep in mind that HL1 contains nowhere as much narrative as HL2 does, it did came out almost 10 years ago after all. Still, it was truly revolutionary for its time and definitely worth playing today.
 
beelzebozo said:
and so much of that story is never tossed up in your face. it's conveyed subtly, through a guy who tells you he thinks there's something in the water; that people can't conceive; through graffiti of a combine soldier holding a baby with "caste" in bright orange letters. it's testament to how much faith they have in this method of storytelling that they have such compelling characters and scenarios but choose to only show you glimpses of what's really going on
Click to expand...

Yeah, just reading a bit of the HL2 synopsis (or rather the time while Gordo was in stasis) makes me realize the enormous amount of stuff I missed.
 
Scotch said:
I really hope it has aged well enough for you to still enjoy. Just keep in mind that HL1 contains nowhere as much narrative as HL2 does, it did came out almost 10 years ago after all. Still, it was truly revolutionary for its time and definitely worth playing today.
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Well, at this point I'm more concerned with experiencing the narrative and just having the whole saga available. That kind of why I'm pissed that there isn't a more easily accessible version for me.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Yeah, just reading a bit of the HL2 synopsis (or rather the time while Gordo was in stasis) makes me realize the enormous amount of stuff I missed.
Click to expand...

Similar feelings here. What's weird is that while playing HL2 I always felt like I knew exactly what was going on since they weren't dropping cutscenes on you that don't make any sense unless you know the backstory.
 
Bought the Orange Box used for 30euros (6 euros per game, lol) from someone online, it'll probably arrive somewhere between Wednesday and Friday.

Can't wait to get into Portal as I feel the constant references to cake and that cube in other threads have already spoiled it a bit for me :(
 
Just finished EP2 today. WOW. Intense. Really great cliffhanger.
I knew as soon as Eli started going on about things he had to tell Gordon and "you're like my own son" that it meant he was gonna get the ax. But what an intense way to kill him off, with Alyx crying and him totally unconcerned with his own death ("close your eyes, baby, don't look at it") but rather with his daughter's well-being. Really well done, probably the most well-done and emotionally stirring death ever in a video game.

Still lots of questions to be answered, but the inclusion of
Aperture Science
in the final chapter was a nice teaser for Episode 3. Will
Chell
show up in the next game?
 
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