How does half life work?

[dustmann]

Yes, I've been living under a stone...

Anyhow I'm just getting back into gaming again, and Half life 2 looks exciting. I've never played the original, mainly because I dont know how it works. What are the steam accounts? Do I need a steam account to play the first one? Also what is CS:S? (counter strike source?) And do I have to buy half life 2 to play episode 1? Are they different? Does ep1 have the half life 2 game?

Also, are they all online games? Or online only? I've never played any pc game online except for dungeon siege once, but mostly only LAN games.

Help get me set up playing this, tell me what I need to buy, if I need to get anything.

 

[TheRyuu]

You need to get Steam if you want to have the latest and greatest for HL (and you just have to have it for everything else).
I'm sure they have some packs that you can buy off of steam but you might be able to find them cheaper in the store.

 

[professor1942]

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php

Install the program, browse the games you can buy. Episode 1 is actually a continuation of HL2, so just start with the basic HL2 first. (not an online game, but it does have an online DM component)

CS:S is online, and it may or may not come free with HL2 depending on the package you purchase.

 

[Lonyo]

You need an internet connection to install the game first time, but you don't play online.

 

[glmino]

Are your questions answered?

 

[dustmann]

Well, not entirely. I downloaded steam and set up an account, but I haven't had much time to actually play with it.

I dont understand the servers. Are servers people's computers? (like the host?) Or are they actually "servers"?

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: dustmann
Well, not entirely. I downloaded steam and set up an account, but I haven't had much time to actually play with it.

I dont understand the servers. Are servers people's computers? (like the host?) Or are they actually "servers"?

the CS:S servers you play on can be anywhere. There are places online that will lease a server so you can set up your own, Valve might have some of their own, not sure. But all the servers I've ever played on were either in somebodies house, leased by somebody, or at a Net Cafe. The big servers won't be a persons PC. You could though even set up your own CS:S server and invite people to play on it, if you're PC and net connection is powerful enough. On my DSL I use to host rinky dink matches between me and a few friends.

 

[Destinova]

Steam is just a distribution client. It allows Valve to distribute their software (and others) online. It also allows you to not ever worry about losing your media. If you reformat your PC all you need to do is reinstall Steam, and re-download any games you have purchased. No more lost CD's!

The servers you are seeing are likely multi-player servers. If you want to play Half Life 2 offline, ie: single-player, once it is installed you can just launch HL2 from Steam or from an icon that should appear on your desktop. They are likely hosted servers, not people's individual PC's, although that may not always be the case.

Episode 1 does not require HL2.

Counter Strike is a first-person shooter, multiplayer (primarily). That is where you would want to browse the different servers and select one to play on, with other online players.

 

[Kromis]

Whoa, I was just about to explain to you stuff about exponential/radioactive decay!

 

[dustmann]

Originally posted by: Kromis
Whoa, I was just about to explain to you stuff about exponential/radioactive decay!

Oddly enough, I think that makes more sense to me than the game.

Steam is really, really slow for me. It is downloading codename Gordon at around 3kbps, is that normal? My normal d/l speed for files is usually between 40 and 50 kb/s

 

[flyboy84]

if your normal download speed is 40-50k, it will take you FOREVER to download HL2 over steam. you might want to look into buying the game at a retail outlet instead.

 

[Slickone]

When Half Life came out, there was no Steam that I remember. So is it required now even for the original HL?

 

[everman]

Just buy the edition of HL2 that includes the original, if you haven't bought off steam yet.(you could probably get a refund if you have).
The Half Life with HL2 has updated graphics, and I think you do need a steam account to use it.

 

[cker]

I picked up a retail HL2 specifically 'cuz my internet access is slow. Of course, it had to patch, but the installation of the patch was quicker than downloading the whole thing.

As for getting into it with little background... I believe you can get the original Half-Life on Steam. Depending on how into game-storytelling you are, it may be worth playing through. If you don't feel like that (it is an old game, after all) then you can read over plot summaries in various places on the net. While they don't really _explain_ the whole deal, I think a little background on the game world may enhance the experience for you.

Since I suck at multi-player FPS, I only played the single-plater HL and HL2. I found it quite satisfying. I had no end of trouble with stuttering sound, because my sound card at the time wasn't fully supported under DirectX version whatever-they-use. Checking out your driver versions, if they're quite stale, may be worth your while if you have issues running the game.

Hope you enjoy it!