398 replies to this topic

[Pimpollo]

why is half of the cursor red? I don't get it, does it mean you need to reload?

[Vanadis]

The left hand bar is your health, and the right hand bar is your ammo for the gun you have out. When either goes red, you can guess what you have to do. It's actually quite nifty and original, but you only really pay any attention in combat when it goes red, so normally in combat, you don't notice it.

[Henrick]

@reality, those are just bad shots, and looks like it's almost on minimum settings.

[Agent 17]

And Pimpollo, if you're still here-- if you don't play HL2 on up you're denying yourself a lot of amazingness. Just do it. Trust me.

Maybe one of the Orange Box owners here will gift you their extra copy?

--Agent 17

[Id]

Finished Episode 2 yesterday, it was really great... The ending was interesting and had me stunned for a bit. I'll post some pics I took throughout the game.

I'm really looking forward to playing through HL1 again, and this modification (HL1 with awesome HL2 graphics) looks absolutely amazing. Wow, I can't imagine how much work that must be for them. I only finished HL1 once and I didn't enjoy it that much, plus it was back in late 1999 early 2000. I think I'll enjoy it a lot more today.

Are there any HL1 modifications to play it with the high res. textures as in the PS2 version or whatever? I'd like to play through it but with better graphics (and the Black Mesa mod won't be out soon I think)

http://en.wikipedia....Mesa_(game_mod)

example:

[Pimpollo]

And Pimpollo, if you're still here-- if you don't play HL2 on up you're denying yourself a lot of amazingness. Just do it. Trust me.

Maybe one of the Orange Box owners here will gift you their extra copy?

--Agent 17

Don't worry man I WILL be getting the Orange Box. But the question is for what: my future macbook or a ps3, that latter of which I'm not too happy to purchase considering it doesn't have backward compatibility(40gb-400$). When it releases in November we will see if the temptation gets the better of me. Also, I would like to play the official expansions before the Orange Box(since I FK'N loved the first HL); but still rather confused as to how to acquire them. From my understanding we can download them from some network of Valve's, STEAM? I'm not too sure of its benefits opposed to buying them at amazon for about 7 dollars. Perhaps someone could enlighten me over the benefits, risks, and overall reputation of STEAM.

Oh and by the way I played a demo(we don't go to ravenholm"), awesomeness! :good:

[Bunny]

I take it you don't have a 360. If you seriously, seriously want Orange Box, then get a 360, rather than a PS3. If you need a Macbook for any reason other than to burn it and laugh at the ashes, then you should still get a 360. Unless there are things you're expecting only on PS3, then I'd obviously suggest you just get a PS3.

Overall, Orange Box is more than just a game. Half Life 2 is all around a magical journey, and you'll never forget it for the rest of your life. I'm beating the whole series over again just to re-live the adventure. It's like being told a really, really good story. I can hardly come to strange terms and call it a video game. It's a modern-day Bible. But I'm not trying to persuade you into buy it, I'm just too emotional about the whole series to restrain thoughts about it, and the tree stopped listening to me yesterday, so I have no one else to talk to.

I mainly suggest you get a workhorse PC, either a brand-name computer around $1300, or build your own computer for a cheaper price, and probably better performance. The only cost is money for the parts and knowledge to build it. It's best if you just get a powerful PC.

[Agent 17]

Well you'll need a MacBook Pro at least to run these games. I would buy the other stuff off Steam if it were me just for the sheer convenience. I think the original game expansions are $10 or so, which is probably about the same as they would be off Amazon. Steam is okay.

Benefits:
-- Really convenient

Cons:
-- You don't get a box
-- You sort of don't have any guarantee that one day the Steam servers won't be destroyed in flames and your permissions to play all your games won't die

But I use Steam. It's okay. Has some flaws but it's all good.

--Agent 17

[Pimpollo]

I take it you don't have a 360. If you seriously, seriously want Orange Box, then get a 360, rather than a PS3. If you need a Macbook for any reason other than to burn it and laugh at the ashes, then you should still get a 360. Unless there are things you're expecting only on PS3, then I'd obviously suggest you just get a PS3.

Overall, Orange Box is more than just a game. Half Life 2 is all around a magical journey, and you'll never forget it for the rest of your life. I'm beating the whole series over again just to re-live the adventure. It's like being told a really, really good story. I can hardly come to strange terms and call it a video game. It's a modern-day Bible. But I'm not trying to persuade you into buy it, I'm just too emotional about the whole series to restrain thoughts about it, and the tree stopped listening to me yesterday, so I have no one else to talk to.

I mainly suggest you get a workhorse PC, either a brand-name computer around $1300, or build your own computer for a cheaper price, and probably better performance. The only cost is money for the parts and knowledge to build it. It's best if you just get a powerful PC.

If I was into the whole continuity thing I'd still get it on PS3 since I have the original on PS2. Could I buy the Orange Box for the PS3 and still be able to buy the expansions ONLY using a macbook pro? Does anyone know if there are any bundles via steam for the expansions? Thanks a lot of the help guys. :good:

[Bunny]

Steam isn't compatible with Mac, you'll need a PC. I don't know if you can download expansions with a PC to a PS3 or not, unless you find some uber cord like a USB cable to transfer them.

[Agent 17]

I played HL1 on PS2 as well, but if I were you I would get the Orange Box for PC if you can run it (you'll presumably be running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp, no?). I can't imagine playing HL2 on a console and there are a bunch of good mods that you'll be missing out on.

Also, my friend's been playing Team Fortress 2 on 360 and then he played it on my PC the other day and said it was a lot better on PC for a bunch of reasons.

But to answer your other question, you can buy any expansion separately on Steam... I don't know which specific ones you're talking about. But you can play Opposing Force and Blue Shift without owning the original Half-Life, and so on. And HL2: Episodes One and Two are self-contained and don't need HL2 to run anyway.

--Agent 17

[Pimpollo]

If I do go the whole PC way it's going to be a macbook pro. I intend to move around frequently next year and well I can't afford to have one huge pc. But with this bootcamp I'll only be able to play the games but not buy them via steam....this may be a little retarded but what's the difference between a pc and a mac I just thought a mac was apple made, a brand just like dell and all the others.

Also, I'm pretty hesitant for not having on a console. I mean I'm certainly open to having it on a keyboard and mouse, it's just that I've NEVER played a game nor had a game that I played on a keyboard and mouse(minus a few but nothing big).

Edited by Pimpollo, 23 October 2007 - 10:08 PM.

[Henrick]

Finished Episode 2 yesterday, it was really great... The ending was interesting and had me stunned for a bit. I'll post some pics I took throughout the game.

Are there any HL1 modifications to play it with the high res. textures as in the PS2 version or whatever? I'd like to play through it but with better graphics (and the Black Mesa mod won't be out soon I think)

The ending shocked me too, definately more so than the other games where there was just this big explosion. I don't think Black Mesa source is going to come out untill 2008 sometime, it's going to be awesome when it does though, i know graphics aren't everything but they do increase the awe factor somewhat.

[Agent 17]

If I do go the whole PC way it's going to be a macbook pro. I intend to move around frequently next year and well I can't afford to have one huge pc. But with this bootcamp I'll only be able to play the games but not buy them via steam....this may be a little retarded but what's the difference between a pc and a mac I just thought a mac was apple made, a brand just like dell and all the others.

The guy who said Steam isn't compatible with Mac is right, but you're not going to be on a Mac, for all intents and purposes, because with Boot Camp, your Mac competely functions as a Windows PC. Steam will run fine under Boot Camp. And I believe that installing HL2 will require the downloading/usage of Steam in any case, so you can't really choose not to use it one way or another.

As for the difference... sheesh. If you don't know what sets them apart, you shouldn't be so sure that you're going to get a Mac. In a nutshell, Macs are computers manufactured by Apple, which also has their own operating system, Mac OS. In the last couple years, they began using Intel chips, so they have hardware comparable to what's on the Windows PC market, so there's not really a difference there.

Because of this change, Apple computers can now run Windows like any other Dell, Gateway, etc.. Apple allows this, but doesn't officially really support it, which is to say that you're supposed to run Mac OS on the computer (which it will by default) and only install Windows to make it easier to switch from a PC, or as a novelty, or to run stuff like games that aren't available on Mac.

Blarg. What I'm getting at is that the big difference between Windows PCs and Macs is that Macs run a completely different operating system, with no Windows involved. I suggest you find a Mac and play with the interface a bit to understand what you're getting into-- it's not really tooooo different, though. I like the Mac OS a LOT more than Windows, although I admit Windows does have a couple useful functions that Mac doesn't have (but the opposite is true too).

Macs also seem to be more reliable and have a more intuitive common-sense interface than Windows PCs. And unlike Dells, Gateways, etc., Apple makes both the hardware and the operating system, so there's probably some advantages to that. When you buy a Dell, you're running one company's software on another company's computer made from parts from the lowest bidder.

Also, I'm pretty hesitant for not having on a console. I mean I'm certainly open to having it on a keyboard and mouse, it's just that I've NEVER played a game nor had a game that I played on a keyboard and mouse(minus a few but nothing big).

Well, do what you're comfortable with, but I think that PC is definitely the way to go if you have the option.

I know some of that was rambly and didn't make a lot of sense... hopefully you'll be able to understand it.

--Agent 17

[Pimpollo]

It's been very helpful man, thanks. Would you think that the default macboookpro could run these games smoothly? Otherwise, how much could I expect to pay on accessories?

[Agent 17]

Yeah, I think the default MacBook Pro could. My iMac has a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo and 2 GB memory-- the MacBook Pro exceeds that. The only question would be the graphics card-- someone else in here would know more about than me. It says it has an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT card with 128MB SDRAM. That sounds pretty good. And I think it is possible to upgrade the graphics card on a MacBook Pro, which isn't true of MacBooks or my iMac.

--Agent 17

[Pimpollo]

Okay sounds good. I'll be sure to let you all know of my inevitable purchase. :good: Thanks to all, now continue talking about HL :laugh:

[The Lawyer]

Well, now that we have your permission...

[Pimpollo]

:laugh: My bad from now on its going to be pm.

[Scourge of God]

Episode Two is awesomeness in a box. Ok, for me it wasn't in a box since I got it off Steam, but hell... Some of the best moments in the series are in there, in particular

Spoiler

the scene with the Combine Advisor in the barn.

That was just great.