What are you currently playing? 4.0

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I wasn't sure where else to ask this, but I was thinking of getting around to playing the original Half-Life (and maybe its expansion packs as well). Obviously system requirements should be no problem for me given that the game is far older than my computer, but I just needed to know if it runs fine on Windows 7 of if its hard to get it compatible to run on any modern OS.

[Foggle]

Half-Life runs perfectly on Windows 7. So do Opposing Force and Blue Shift, though Blue Shift has a very strange bug where the NPCs all bounce around like crazy inside the elevators. It doesn't affect or hinder gameplay, though. Definitely play HL 1 and Opposing Force; Blue Shift is optional since it's not really that great. And avoid Half-Life: Source, it's a lazy port with no mod support that actually looks worse than the original and costs more money.

Once you finish the main games, you should grab these:
Half-Life Uplink - A Steam port of the original Half-Life demo. The included level isn't featured anywhere in the actual game.
Half-Life Decay - A PC port of the PS2-exclusive co-op bonus campaign. We can play it together if you want (though the modders actually figured out a way to make it playable in single-player)!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sounds awesome! Steam has a package deal for the original Half-Life plus Opposing Forces and Blue Shift (and I think the original Team Fortress as well) for only $15 in total. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

[Foggle]

Yeah, it's a really good deal. Not many people play TFC anymore, though. Probably because the sequel went free to play.

[Rynnec]

I finally got around to beating Megaman Zero 3 earlier today, excellent game. I just wish there was an option to retry beaten level's to get EX skills (without having to restart the game), and that Capcom didn't half-ass the sprite for Omega's third-form, but that's just nitpicking on my part.

Not sure if I should go back and finish Zero 2, or track down copies of Zero 1 and 4/MMZ Collection next.

[Nel_Annette]

I... I just got my first Game Over in Paper Mario: TTYD. The red Yux in the X-Naut control room... this is what I get for wasting turns trying to get Goombella to tattle everything. I gave the guy the opportunity to summon all four of his shield dudes and they wrecked me. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If anyone's interested, Steam currently seems to be having a 50% off sale on most or all of Valve's games (actually, Portal 2 is 75% off). You can get the Half-Life 1 anthology for under $8, which is an offer that I think I might hit up later on.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Ys Oath In Felghana is $5 on there.

I HIGHLY recommend it. It can probably run on anything.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I just bought the Half-Life 1 Anthology. I'll look into Ys later on. The summer sale is supposed to last until the 23rd, so I may hit up some more games before it ends.

I also noticed that the Jedi Knight and Dark Forces games have a good sale going. I'm pretty sure that they could all run on my computer (though II and Academy would probably need to be run and low to mid settings), so I may hit that deal up at some point in time, as well.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm about an hour into Half-Life. So far it seems to have the same general structure as the 2nd game except with lesser graphics, which definitely isn't a bad thing at all. It has less scripted moments bogging you down, though, which I definitely like since I feel like I can breeze along the game at a really smooth pace without being interrupted too much. Also, this is one of those few games where I definitely feel that the keyboard and mouse is just naturally better. Don't get me wrong, I know that they are the optimal control scheme for all FPS games, but I've gotten so used to using a controller that I honestly prefer those for playing most FPS titles. However, I always felt that Half-Life 2 was just better suited to a mouse and keyboard even when I was playing it on the XBOX360 for the first time, and playing Half-Life 1 pretty much proves that. I think its because of how many different complexities there are in your repertoire of actions compared to most other FPS titles, and how you need to be able to react faster to enemies and situations in this game than in other games in the genre. Also, the look sensitivity of the aiming just didn't fit right with analogue sticks, IMO, which is why I actually feel its more natural even for me to play this game with a keyboard and mouse.

Anyways, other than that, there isn't much else that I can say about the game, right now. I'll share more of my thoughts about it later when I get further into it.

[Daxdiv]

Oh the Summer Sale. How I love it so much. So many games you can get for cheap. Sonic Generations is about $10 as well.  Can't go wrong with that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hey, I was wondering, do the classic Sega games support a wired XBOX360 controller connected through a USB? I'm asking because there are some really sweet deals for classic Sega games that I've always wanted to play (including Shinobi III, which is currently less than $2), but I'm only interested if I can play them with a controller since I hate having to use a keyboard for 2D side-scrollers and classic 8/16-bit games in general.

[Foggle]

If not for Xen, I'd definitely prefer the original Half-Life to its sequel. But because Xen is just so obnoxious, I'd probably say they're on par (or give the edge to 2). Thankfully, the Xen sections in Opposing Force and Blue Shift are extremely short and easy.

Make sure you check out those mods I linked to once you're done! And there are a few other great ones you must try... just can't recall their names at the moment.

Hey, I was wondering, do the classic Sega games support a wired XBOX360 controller connected through a USB? I'm asking because there are some really sweet deals for classic Sega games that I've always wanted to play (including Shinobi III, which is currently less than $2), but I'm only interested if I can play them with a controller since I hate having to use a keyboard for 2D side-scrollers and classic 8/16-bit games in general.

I assume they do as they're basically just legal ROMs running on official emulators, but if not, there's always Xpadder.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Thanks!

It definitely helps to have the option to play with a controller since those are pretty much the way that classic side-scrollers were meant to be played.

And yeah, Half-Life is a pretty good game. So far I haven't played nearly enough to compare it to its sequel, but it generally seems like its on par with that game, minus the gravity gun.

[Foggle]

Played a bunch of cage match with my friend in Max Anarchy. The extremely fun 3D brawler mechanics and blood-pumping hip hop soundtrack make this the only fighting game I've ever truly enjoyed in my entire life. Leave it to Platinum to fuse genres so sublimely.