Half Life 3: A big deal?

[Camul]

Half life 3 should be 100% optimised for VR and be GOTY. Movie like quality storyline (at least as successful as The Inception or Interstellar).

However Gaben has an incredibly hard task because u guys have been waiting for almost a decade and your expectations are surely very high.

 

Movie quality storyline? That means nothing, you realise that? I think it'd be a lot better if we stopped with the 'video games should aspire to be like films' nonsense.

[Prastupok]

Thony, on 06 Mar 2015 - 07:01 AM, said:

Half life 3 should be 100% optimised for VR and be GOTY. Movie like quality storyline (at least as successful as The Inception or Interstellar).

However Gaben has an incredibly hard task because u guys have been waiting for almost a decade and your expectations are surely very high.

 

Movie quality? That's easy, there are a lot of really shitty movies out there.

[RAGINRICKY]

i dont know why there is this half life revolution going on. valve would have clearly announced it if they were making half life 3. but even if they do announce it, it would be years from now with source 2 and all of that. it might be a few years from now. 

[Prastupok]

i dont know why there is this half life revolution going on. valve would have clearly announced it if they were making half life 3. but even if they do announce it, it would be years from now with source 2 and all of that. it might be a few years from now. 

 

Why would they announce it..?

 

Does Apple announce they are working on the new iPhone? No, they announce when it's ready.

 

After the Half Life 2 debacle, I'm not surprised they aren't announcing anything.

[GuruMeditationError]

Though by today's standards it absolutely would no way hold up (if it were released today as a new game as it is it would be universally panned) It was ground breaking and mind-blowing when it was released, spawned one of the first very successful (almost legendary) multiplayer online FPS mods and went on to become something of a cult favourite that's endured through the years.

 

In that sense it can be thought of as a shared cultural touchstone and the release of the third one would kind of be a "cultural event" at least for the people of the gaming community.

 

That having been said, it's easy to see why some people don't understand the appeal. It's like an old movie that was amazing at the time it was released but just can't compare to modern cinema and is even diminished in comparison.

 

Sometimes to better understand something it's helpful to look at the flip-side of it all. In the spirit of just that, here's a Half-Life 2 review from a huge Half-Life fan really let down by the sequel.

 

 

Personally I always preferred System Shock II, but that's probably because it was an easier party to enjoy arriving late to.

[Mush Brain]

I would say Goldeneye on N64 was far more influencing to gaming than Half Life and it was a major success.

Hate all you want.

[Prastupok]

-snip-

 

That "review" is a complete joke. That kid made little to no real argument... It was all personal BS.

[GuruMeditationError]

I would say Goldeneye on N64 was far more influencing to gaming than Half Life and it was a major success.

Hate all you want.

 

And let's not forget System Shock II, released in the year following, and probably in production at the same time as Half Life. 

 

[zappian]

Half life 3 has become an icon.

There is not any game that can feed all that hyper.

HL3 will be a flop solely because of that.

See Duke nukem forever.

[GuruMeditationError]

Half life 3 has become an icon.

There is not any game that can feed all that hyper.

HL3 will be a flop solely because of that.

See Duke nukem forever.

 

I'd agree but I can't think they're going to release it as anything but a headset VR title and that'll just turn everything on its head.

 

Also, for the mainstream they just have to provide more of the same and just continue the story from Half Life 2 (probably where most people playing it today actually joined the series).

 

Not sure if it's still in production but there was another Headset VR game being developed that sounded like it was going to do just what the original Half Life did. That game, if it ever sees the light of day, will probably be to Half Life what Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's Silent Hills is going to be to Resident Evil (basically the true evolution and maturation of the original formula while the archetype's continue to become more and more diluted for a mainstream audience. (I can see Headset VR Resident Evil being the Headset VR equivalent of a flat-screen light-gun shooter.))

 

The irony is that if Valve now went back to the original formula and practically re-made the original Half Life in headset VR the mainstream would probably "hate on it" because it contradicts what they're expecting from a sequel to HL2. That is if they're not just blown away by headset VR and by the simple fact that it's got the Half Life branding. Who knows where Valve willl go with it. I don't think there's really any denying that Half Life 2 is as different a game to the original Half Life as it can be without actually being a different game entirely (it's that much of a departure from the original concept and basically needs to keep hitting you over the head with the references to the original in order to maintain any kind of continuity whatsoever, besides it being a shooter). There are more similarities in terms of Gameplay and theme between the first Bioshock and the original Half Life than there are between Half Life and Half Life 2, if you changed the aesthetic/art-style of the first Bioshock, swapped out the characters and slapped a Half Life logo on the box you'd probably have a more faithful Half Life sequel. 

[Thony]

 

Thony, on 06 Mar 2015 - 07:01 AM, said:

 

Movie quality? That's easy, there are a lot of really shitty movies out there.

 

Thats why i mentioned 2 specific movies....

[Crowbar_XL]

That "review" is a complete joke. That kid made little to no real argument... It was all personal BS.

 

Agreed, he thinks he's speaking for everybody who's playing the game since he says "gamers want this, that, and thing this and that, and do this and that", and also insults gamers, as if everybody is same.

 

I completely disagree with almost every single thing he said because that was HE'S PERSONAL OPINION.

HE CAN'T SHOVE IT PEOPLE'S THROATS AND CALL THEM STUPID IDIOTS IF THEY DISAGREE.

[GuruMeditationError]

That "review" is a complete joke. That kid made little to no real argument... It was all personal BS.

Agreed, he thinks he's speaking for everybody who's playing the game since he says "gamers want this, that, and thing this and that, and do this and that", and also insults gamers, as if everybody is same.

 

I completely disagree with almost every single thing he said because that was HE'S PERSONAL OPINION.

HE CAN'T SHOVE IT PEOPLE'S THROATS AND CALL THEM STUPID IDIOTS IF THEY DISAGREE.

 

Well obviously I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't think it had some merit, even if only as an exercise in looking at it from a different perspective, but as you say, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and to expressing it without being the subject of hostile attack.

 

Personally I don't think Half Life 2 is either a good sequel or a good game, but then that's just my opinion. But having said that I didn't really like the original Half Life, I preferred System Shock II and playing Half Life and System Shock 2 back to back was kind of what set me on the path of preferring single player games to multiplayer, especially multiplayer shooters.

 

If I had to play a multiplayer shooter I'd rather play Vietcong or Soldier of Fortune. 

[The Gaige]

I just want Borderlands 3 made by Gearbox only!

[ThomasD]

It is doubtful anything Valve would ever release could satisfy all, or even most of the hardcore fans.

 

Half Life One had a complete story arc.  Had it ended there the assumption would be Freeman returns to a normal life and goes on his merry way.  

 

Half Life Two worked because it took Freeman out of the original timeline and put him in another related, but future and distant timeline.  However, as it currently stands, it did not complete that story arc.  It would take something like HL2 episode 3 to complete the resolution  of the Combine invasion.  I suppose that would satisfy many.

 

But that alone  would not remotely begin to wrap up the over arcing story of the G Man, and what ever that is all about.  That would probably take another full game, or even another series.  

 

Because if they didn't close off that issue then there would be people forever demanding a Half Life 4.

[GuruMeditationError]

It is doubtful anything Valve would ever release could satisfy all, or even most of the hardcore fans.

 

Half Life One had a complete story arc.  Had it ended there the assumption would be Freeman returns to a normal life and goes on his merry way.  

 

Half Life Two worked because it took Freeman out of the original timeline and put him in another related, but future and distant timeline.  However, as it currently stands, it did not complete that story arc.  It would take something like HL2 episode 3 to complete the resolution  of the Combine invasion.  I suppose that would satisfy many.

 

But that alone  would not remotely begin to wrap up the over arcing story of the G Man, and what ever that is all about.  That would probably take another full game, or even another series.  

 

Because if they didn't close off that issue then there would be people forever demanding a Half Life 4.

 

To be honest I don't know that much about the Half Life cannon/lore but if what you mean is that HL2 is Gordon Freeman taken out of one timeline and supplanted in another, then I guess that's kind of a sweeping justification for all of the differences that might make sense logically but still doesn't seem to be adequate in terms of giving the original fans what they might have been wanting or expecting from a sequel. I guess ultimately it was designed for the market it was released into, but if you wanted to be a purist about the whole thing, largely I guess it could be thought of mainly as a kind of Half Life / Gordon Freeman Gaiden?

 

 

I just want Borderlands 3 made by Gearbox only!

 

 

I think ultimately what it comes down to is the kind of thinking where if something works small (with a nieche audience) or has at least some kind of caché then it mitigates the risk of trying to roll it out big for the mainstream.

 

Personally I think that's why indie development is such a potentially interesting vector for the entry of new ideas into mainstream gaming.

 

Edit: But having said that I don't really remember the Borderland games that well. I think I played 2 but I'm not totally sure. I loved the writing of at least the first one and the expansions/dlc but just didn't really like the gameplay that much.

 

 

And Half-Life 2 Holds up well to this day

 

 

I might be biased, because I didn't think it was a particularly good game when it was released, and I know it is largely subjective, but I really just don't recommend Half Life 2 anymore (but then I didn't when it was released). In fact just the opposite: these days, if people are looking for a game with a bit of an older feel I basically recommend Deus Ex Human Revolution. I know it was released about seven years after Half Life 2 but it still has an "old-school" kind of vibe but in an altogether more modern package.

[Misanthrope]

Half life 1: This game was truly revolutionary. When it came out first person games were made on 2 extremes which was silly, shoot the fuck out of everything "Doom" games and mystery, click your own adventure type stuff which had no action. Half life was to me the first game that really showed what modern videogames could do: Tell a story through game mechanics and without relying on cutscenes, exposition dialog dumps or even in it's case any dialog at all. It was all about the exploration and experience which immersed you into the story that was told through interaction, not through exposition with puzzles or lacking a story which was common place back then

Half life 2: Even when this one came out (and remember it was surrounded by equal amounts of bullshit and hype) it basically perfected the previous game style. But not only that but Valve took a bold move: Steam was created out of Valve's frustration with normal retail channels and such, they wanted DRM true, but they also wanted things we take for granted today like Digital Distribution that works, automatic patching, etc. There simply would not be Steam without Half life 2 so you can take Valve and HL2 for accelerating adoption into digital distribution at a time where physical distribution for PC games was all but fucking dead: I remember having to go to office depot to buy maybe a few copies of Blizzard games and Microsoft flight simulator, otherwise it was really though to find the big box PC games of old I grew up with but eventually, against all odds including my own, Steam sold me into digital only games.

 

Half life 3: I wouldn't want it to be 100% exclusive to Steam OS, however it could be a big deal if they manage it well to push it. If there's anyone that could put even a small dent into Windows for gaming my best vet would be Valve and their best franchise to potentially push it would be half life.