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Ello Dakka,
So after recently purchasing TF2 and falling in love with the Soldier and Pyro (not physically, of course), I was wondering what you guys think is the best Valve game as I am looking to branch out a bit from CoD and TF2.
Thanks,
Mr. Self Destruct

That depends, single or multiplayer?

MP: Counterstrike1.6/TF2
SP: Half Life and sequals

Soladrin wrote:That depends, single or multiplayer?

MP: Counterstrike1.6/TF2
SP: Half Life 2 and sequals

Fixed

I would argue Left 4 Dead 2 in that list somewhere, though. It is a damn fine game, and the best zombie apocalypse game I've seen so far.

Half Life

Team Fortress 2.

Portal is short and more of a puzzle game, Half Life 2 is short and has a few boring moments, I hate Counterstrike, Left 4 Dead 2 is far too unbalanced towards the Survivors, Half Life is starting to show its age and had Zen, and the Half Life 2 episodes are way too short.

TF2 is continuously updated, has tons of possible playtime, and is mostly balanced.

Would have to be TF2 I'm in love with the game again.

Locclo wrote:

Soladrin wrote:That depends, single or multiplayer?

MP: Counterstrike1.6/TF2
SP: Half Life 2 and sequels

Fixed

I would argue Left 4 Dead 2 in that list somewhere, though. It is a damn fine game, and the best zombie apocalypse game I've seen so far.

HERETIC how dare you belittle half life 1? and half life 2 is a bloody sequel to 1 you know.

Counter Strike: Source

L4D2

It's the ONLY valve shooter I've played

Soladrin wrote:

Locclo wrote:

Soladrin wrote:That depends, single or multiplayer?

MP: Counterstrike1.6/TF2
SP: Half Life 2 and sequels

Fixed

I would argue Left 4 Dead 2 in that list somewhere, though. It is a damn fine game, and the best zombie apocalypse game I've seen so far.

HERETIC how dare you belittle half life 1? and half life 2 is a bloody sequel to 1 you know.

I only belittle what I dislike

(was not a fan of Half-Life. The crappy graphics compared to modern day graphics gave me a massive headache whenever I played)

CS:Source.

I AM THE ONE AND ONLY!!!

That is all.

Locclo wrote:(was not a fan of Half-Life. The crappy graphics compared to modern day graphics gave me a massive headache whenever I played)

Really? I still can happily pick up Halo CE and have a great time, the graphics have aged fine. Then again, people today do hold too much stock by graphics, especially the kids, who are about 10 years below the games age restriction.

On topic, I'd say Half Life 2. I love that game. Graphics are really nice, but the gameplay is just so fantastic and fluid. Weapons, sound, everything's balanced perfectly. And the story's not half bad either.

sA

CS 1.3

For me it is portal for creativity.
Half life 2 and episodes for great and interesting story.

HL2 Episode 2 and L4D2

why?


Gnomes

if you dislike the HL1 graphics then play HL Source, its the same game on the source engine.

HL
HL2
L4D 1 and 2.

I loves me some Counter Strike source, but only gun game death match. I despise waiting to respawn. I have been that way since Doom on my black and white laptop. Waiting to respawn is the worst, the countdown in CA or BF is ok, you know, like 20 seconds...but a whole round? feth that.

Locclo wrote:(was not a fan of Half-Life. The crappy graphics compared to modern day graphics gave me a massive headache whenever I played)

Did you consider it to have bad graphics at the time of its release? Or did you play it years later, after things like Doom 3 had come out.

IG_urban wrote:if you dislike the HL1 graphics then play HL Source, its the same game on the source engine.

It has the same graphics as the original, just with nice looking water.

I still play Doom 1 and 2, so graphics mean nothing to me.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Locclo wrote:(was not a fan of Half-Life. The crappy graphics compared to modern day graphics gave me a massive headache whenever I played)

Did you consider it to have bad graphics at the time of its release? Or did you play it years later, after things like Doom 3 had come out.

Well, when Half-Life came out, I was about 7 years old, so I wouldn't have played it then. Hence the reason I can't stand the graphics - didn't learn about the series until Half-Life 2 came out, and didn't even play that until a few years later when the Orange Box hit shelves.

Just to point something out, I'm not saying it had bad graphics compared to the time. I'm just saying, it's really hard for someone like me (whose gaming experience was raised on very good graphics) to enjoy an older game with poor graphics compared to now.

Locclo wrote:Well, when Half-Life came out, I was about 7 years old, so I wouldn't have played it then.

Ah, fair enough. Well, as someone who was over twice your age when it came out, it was a big deal. Like one of the single biggest things to happen to the gaming industry since things like Wolf 3D, DOOM and Command & Conquer/Warcraft hit shelves. And a year later we were going to be blown away even more by the Half-Life 'Killer', Halo... but that didn't turn out so well.

Locclo wrote:Hence the reason I can't stand the graphics - didn't learn about the series until Half-Life 2 came out, and didn't even play that until a few years later when the Orange Box hit shelves.

There is a hi-res update that came with Blue Shift. That goes a long way to improving and updating the graphics. Sadly Half-Life Source did not include that, stupidly. Overall Half-Life Source was very lazy.

Locclo wrote:Just to point something out, I'm not saying it had bad graphics compared to the time. I'm just saying, it's really hard for someone like me (whose gaming experience was raised on very good graphics) to enjoy an older game with poor graphics compared to now.

No issue. I think it's amazing how we thought it was so cool back then, but then again this is before Quake III, the game that included (for the first time) actual curved surfaces (not just loads of polygons to fake curved surfaces, often badly).

I played the original half life on my friend's pc with a rollerball mouse. He managed to play wing commander with that thing. T'was a monstrosity.

The original Half Life was and still is amazing. Gotta love watching swat and green gribblies going at it!

Locclo wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Locclo wrote:(was not a fan of Half-Life. The crappy graphics compared to modern day graphics gave me a massive headache whenever I played)

Did you consider it to have bad graphics at the time of its release? Or did you play it years later, after things like Doom 3 had come out.

Well, when Half-Life came out, I was about 7 years old, so I wouldn't have played it then. Hence the reason I can't stand the graphics - didn't learn about the series until Half-Life 2 came out, and didn't even play that until a few years later when the Orange Box hit shelves.

Just to point something out, I'm not saying it had bad graphics compared to the time. I'm just saying, it's really hard for someone like me (whose gaming experience was raised on very good graphics) to enjoy an older game with poor graphics compared to now.

Wow, thats a horrible affliction. So... you pretty much can't play any of the best games so far..?

DOD!Day of Defeat.Its a ww2 fps shooter that steam sells.Its $15 i think and its a realy good shooter,as there is a surplus of maps and weapons,and people make dun maps like, mario land.The teams are American,British and Germans.Buy it =)

Valve only makes first person shooters, and they have only developed about five games (The rest that are published by Valve, such as Counterstrike, have been outsourced to other companies, or taken over by Valve once they've been developed under their engine).

Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, Team Fortress 1 & 2.

Take your pick. There's not much to choose from.

As for modifications on the Half Life Engine, or the Source Engine, there's plenty of awesome games to choose from, and they're all free (unless they've been bought and published by Valve), so I definitely suggest buying Half Life 1 & 2, as you'll get more for your money than any other game out there. I find Natural Selection and The Specialists to be a lot more fun than anything Valve has ever managed to make, and those are both free-to-play Half Life 1 modifications. I've played more of either one of those games than every Valve game combined (If you're wondering, they both have graphics nearly on-par with any Source Engine game, minus the physics.).

Sorry, accidental double post.

Half Life 2.