Orange Box First Impressions!

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: spittledip
I am wanting to hear how TF2 is for everybody. What do you all think of TF2? Do share.

It's all kinds of awesome. I was excited for Crysis and UT3, but then I started playing TF2 and have not even thought about those other games since.

See this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2100292&enterthread=y and come play on the AT players server.

KT

Compared to the old TF I am not too impressed with TF2. No hunted mode, no grenades, they limited a some of the weapons (The pyros suck even more now). It is basically a dumbed down version of TFC with better graphics.

Actually, the pyros were fixed in a recent update and now they are one of the most powerful players in the game.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I'm loving Episode 2 so far (haven't played Portal yet), but I'm stuck. I just killed the two antlion guardians and I'm supposed to get up to the encampment somehow, but the vortigaunt won't do anything. There's a generator next to the lift which he probably needs to activate, but he just stands there giving me encouragement (The Vorts are hilarious!).

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Noema


However, it does have a severe hit on performance...anyone else noticing frame rates going down quite a bit when the flashlight is on, specially outdoors?

Okay, I installed the latest WHQL drivers and all is good now

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: lupi

Originally posted by: Rufus12
Anyone know if orange box comes on dvd's

2

To clarify game comes on 2 DVDs

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Its still single threaded. It goes to 99% on one core of my 2.7 C2D, and the other one goes basically idle.

Awesome

Back in 2006 they were telling us how the new multi-core support would be added to the engine before the beginning of the year(2007). Then, they tell us it will be included in the release of Episode 2...a year later.

I'm curious to see when it actually shows up =]

 

[RedBeard]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I'm loving Episode 2 so far (haven't played Portal yet), but I'm stuck. I just killed the two antlion guardians and I'm supposed to get up to the encampment somehow, but the vortigaunt won't do anything. There's a generator next to the lift which he probably needs to activate, but he just stands there giving me encouragement (The Vorts are hilarious!).

I remember that.
They need to give you a scripted congratulations talk, then they walk over to the generator.

I sat waiting for a while too, I had to go meet them.

 

[RedBeard]

Episode 2 thoughts:
Almost perfect pacing. Overall I am very happy with this episode. I was able to beat it in 2 days. The new hunters are really a pita, but they are fun to battle. The gfx are certainly better but most of the changes are subtle. I enjoyed it so much that I am actually going to go back thru commentary mode. Much better than Ep1 imho. (I liked Ep1 btw) I hope we don't have to wait much longer for Ep3 (the final episode).

Portal:
Pretty neat, I haven't beat this yet. I sat down to play it and went through the first 15 levels pretty quickly. I think it took me about an hour or so. It is pretty easy so far but it makes me feel intelligent .

TF2:
I am a CSS fan and play a few hours a week. I only played this one time but I was impressed. The atmosphere/art was very well done. The cell shaded graphics are very impressive. There is a high level of polish on the presentation this title. I can't wait to play it more.

 

[jonmcc33]

I won't even waste my time on this one. They are beating a very dead horse.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: RedBeard
Episode 2 thoughts:
Almost perfect pacing. Overall I am very happy with this episode. I was able to beat it in 2 days. The new hunters are really a pita, but they are fun to battle. The gfx are certainly better but most of the changes are subtle. I enjoyed it so much that I am actually going to go back thru commentary mode. Much better than Ep1 imho. (I liked Ep1 btw) I hope we don't have to wait much longer for Ep3 (the final episode).

Portal:
Pretty neat, I haven't beat this yet. I sat down to play it and went through the first 15 levels pretty quickly. I think it took me about an hour or so. It is pretty easy so far but it makes me feel intelligent .

TF2:
I am a CSS fan and play a few hours a week. I only played this one time but I was impressed. The atmosphere/art was very well done. The cell shaded graphics are very impressive. There is a high level of polish on the presentation this title. I can't wait to play it more.

thats not cell shaded...

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Boztech

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: spittledip
I am wanting to hear how TF2 is for everybody. What do you all think of TF2? Do share.

It's all kinds of awesome. I was excited for Crysis and UT3, but then I started playing TF2 and have not even thought about those other games since.

See this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2100292&enterthread=y and come play on the AT players server.

KT

Compared to the old TF I am not too impressed with TF2. No hunted mode, no grenades, they limited a some of the weapons (The pyros suck even more now). It is basically a dumbed down version of TFC with better graphics.

Actually, the pyros were fixed in a recent update and now they are one of the most powerful players in the game.

i still don't get the pyro. i am constaly getting owned by them but any time i play them, my flame either never hits the enemy, even at point blank range or if it does hit, they take forever to die, yet when i get hit with it, i die immediately.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: BD2003
Its still single threaded. It goes to 99% on one core of my 2.7 C2D, and the other one goes basically idle.

Yeah, I noticed the same right away...so much for it being multi-threaded, it seems

According to the article here at Anandtech, it will do 2 threads max. No advantage to quad core with this one. It definitely likes more cache and low latency access times

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: pontifex
i still don't get the pyro. i am constaly getting owned by them but any time i play them, my flame either never hits the enemy, even at point blank range or if it does hit, they take forever to die, yet when i get hit with it, i die immediately.

it only does significant damage when you roast them at point blank range. I don't know if your ping affects how difficult it is to do that though. also, maybe you were hit with criticals. critical weapon damage kills you almost immediately. the flamer at point blank can kill a soldier/demo in less than half a second. it happens randomly though.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Anyone else think thorso shots with the sniper is kind of underpowered? It seems that unless they're a scout or badly wounded a full charge shot won't kill anyone... They really need to up it's damage, or make everyones head bigger.

 

[Czar]

Portal is fun, I'm almost through the last level and have loved it through and through.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
Anyone else think thorso shots with the sniper is kind of underpowered? It seems that unless they're a scout or badly wounded a full charge shot won't kill anyone... They really need to up it's damage, or make everyones head bigger.

It is less powerful than before, but before in TFC it was kind of overpowered (for anyone who could aim). It's not too bad now because I think they adjusted the hitbox so it's much easier to get head shots. It's certainly harder to one-shot kill now, but judging from the number of head shots that are performed, most snipers seem to be fine with it.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Portal was pretty fun. I got to a few places where it took a while to figure it out.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I would like to hear Apoppin's thoughts on the updated lighting!

KT

well, i still don't have Ep2 ...

as far as i got in Portal - just a few minutes after work - i am not impressed

but for free ... i ain't complaining

OK ... i am playing for a couple of sessions ... neither the improved lighting not the flashlight nor shadows are anything "special" ... still underpar compared to other engines ... BUT the overall 'effect' - the upgrade to Source was amazing - they concentrated on their strengths very well and hide their weaknesses nicely. i am liking what i see. They have minimized their audio stutter and the game is very bug-free [so far] - well except for the "bugs" i am killing.


BTW, Ep2 is MUCH better then Ep1 ... i think i can figure out what i missed

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I'm loving Episode 2 so far (haven't played Portal yet), but I'm stuck. I just killed the two antlion guardians and I'm supposed to get up to the encampment somehow, but the vortigaunt won't do anything. There's a generator next to the lift which he probably needs to activate, but he just stands there giving me encouragement (The Vorts are hilarious!).

If I'm think of the same place, there's supposed to be 3 antlion guradians. Two normal ones and one that's a different colour and harder to beat. Just run around the area and see if you can make the last one appear.

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I would like to hear Apoppin's thoughts on the updated lighting!

KT

well, i still don't have Ep2 ...

as far as i got in Portal - just a few minutes after work - i am not impressed

but for free ... i ain't complaining

OK ... i am playing for a couple of sessions ... neither the improved lighting not the flashlight nor shadows are anything "special" ... still underpar compared to other engines ... BUT the overall 'effect' - the upgrade to Source was amazing - they concentrated on their strengths very well and hide their weaknesses nicely. i am liking what i see. They have minimized their audio stutter and the game is very bug-free [so far] - well except for the "bugs" i am killing.


BTW, Ep2 is MUCH better then Ep1 ... i think i can figure out what i missed

The new lighting and shadows only affect certain objects and surfaces, so they don't make a lot of difference to the game since they're not used much. Turning on the flash light pretty much cut the framerate in half for me since it renders shadows for everything you point it at.
The plus side is artists don't have to worry how much light/shaows will impact performance and are free to do what they want, and they've done a fantastic job. Episode two is awesome and my favorite part of the half life saga so far!

 

[normalicy]

Portal was so good to me that I don't much care if I end up playing Episode 2.

 

[imported_Imp]

I've finally installed it and tried out TF2. It is awesome, but did anyone else have trouble connecting to servers? Took me an hour or so messing around with Windows Firewall before finally disabling it. Seems like even with TF2 (nicely named hl2 same as cstrike) on the exceptions list, it's still blocking stuff preventing me from connecting to anything. Now I've gotta turn my firewall off to even connect, which is pissing. They better fix it soon cause all my other stuff, even CS: Source works with the wall on and exceptions enabled.

Oh, and why the hell did they turn the well into a capture point map. Same goes for dustbowl: now it's almost too easy. The flag made things a lot more interesting for red. Demoman still rocks.

Haven't tried portal or Ep. 2 yet. I'm surprised portal is a singleplayer game though, unless I'm missing something...

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Imp
I've finally installed it and tried out TF2. It is awesome, but did anyone else have trouble connecting to servers? Took me an hour or so messing around with Windows Firewall before finally disabling it. Seems like even with TF2 (nicely named hl2 same as cstrike) on the exceptions list, it's still blocking stuff preventing me from connecting to anything. Now I've gotta turn my firewall off to even connect, which is pissing. They better fix it soon cause all my other stuff, even CS: Source works with the wall on and exceptions enabled.

Oh, and why the hell did they turn the well into a capture point map. Same goes for dustbowl: now it's almost too easy. The flag made things a lot more interesting for red. Demoman still rocks.

Haven't tried portal or Ep. 2 yet. I'm surprised portal is a singleplayer game though, unless I'm missing something...

I don't see how portal could be a multiplayer game at all... so yes... you're missing something.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I would like to hear Apoppin's thoughts on the updated lighting!

KT

well, i still don't have Ep2 ...

as far as i got in Portal - just a few minutes after work - i am not impressed

but for free ... i ain't complaining

OK ... i am playing for a couple of sessions ... neither the improved lighting not the flashlight nor shadows are anything "special" ... still underpar compared to other engines ... BUT the overall 'effect' - the upgrade to Source was amazing - they concentrated on their strengths very well and hide their weaknesses nicely. i am liking what i see. They have minimized their audio stutter and the game is very bug-free [so far] - well except for the "bugs" i am killing.


BTW, Ep2 is MUCH better then Ep1 ... i think i can figure out what i missed

I just started playing Episode 1 (about 1/2 way through) and I'm not sure why everyone complains about it. It feels like a perfect extension of HL2 to me.

I am excited to play Ep2 though, by all accounts it is pretty darn amazing.

KT

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Imp
I've finally installed it and tried out TF2. It is awesome, but did anyone else have trouble connecting to servers? Took me an hour or so messing around with Windows Firewall before finally disabling it. Seems like even with TF2 (nicely named hl2 same as cstrike) on the exceptions list, it's still blocking stuff preventing me from connecting to anything. Now I've gotta turn my firewall off to even connect, which is pissing. They better fix it soon cause all my other stuff, even CS: Source works with the wall on and exceptions enabled.

I did not have any such problems and I have had Windows firewall running the entire time; there must be something else causing it. UT3 on the other hand...

KT

 

[Regs]

Ok..maybe I'll pick up orange box sometime tonight...bastids.