Half Life 2: Episode 3 update?! (Updated 8/28)

[JediFragger]

1 hour ago, Derangel said:

His wording pretty much solidifies that HL Ep3/HL3 is never going to happen. Valve has no professional writers left, at least not ones that would work on a big, narrative driven, game like Half-Life. People fawn over a dream that is never going to come true, Valve does not care about the single player experience anymore. Valve makes 100s of millions every year from Steam and their multiplayer titles, there is no reason for them to care anymore.

*cries*

[captain cactus]

2 hours ago, n2a newt said:

 

TL;DW - Mark Laidlaw, the lead writer for the Half Life series and who left Valve last year, recently posted a letter titled "Epistle 3" (Episode 3)  to "playa" (players) which contain names and content extremely similar to those in the half-life series.

The full context for why this is happened is still under investigation. Someone by the name of Jackathan already took the letter and translated the names to half life (link below). 

 

If this is what we all think it might be then my god, I honestly don't know how to react.

Let me know what you guys think. 

 

Link to Original letter from Mark Laidlaw: https://github.com/Jackathan/MarcLaidlaw-Epistle3/blob/master/Epistle3_Original.md

Link to translated letter from Mark Laidlaw: https://github.com/Jackathan/MarcLaidlaw-Epistle3/blob/master/Epistle3_Corrected.md

Then lets beg Naughty Dog to hire Mark and get the game going.

[mr moose]

yep, nope.  I think they started and then realised that sometimes a franchise is better left unfinished than ballsed up.

[Taf the Ghost]

16 minutes ago, mr moose said:

yep, nope.  I think they started and then realised that sometimes a franchise is better left unfinished than ballsed up.

From of the interviews and discussions, they've had 3 or 4 pretty deep runs at making HL3. (Not quite sure where Episode 3 got off to.) It's not that they didn't put the work into it; the problem HL & HL2 were lightning in a bottle. They couldn't get something close to the same level. Could be a lot of reasons. Realistically, they just didn't have the staff for it. You needed someone with an absolutely brilliant idea to really make it worth being HL3, and they just couldn't find it.

 

Though they really should at least have finished HL2: Ep 3.

[Agosto]

No more writers from HL/HL2 era are still working for Valve. These rumours are always painful for us, given the ending of HL:ep2 and Portal 2

[kilgore_T]

 

im not worried , it is for episode 3 not HL3 we know valve canned the idea of episode 3 a while back,

im an optimist maybe they have a better story for HL3

 

[Agosto]

58 minutes ago, kilgore_T said:

 

im not worried , it is for episode 3 not HL3 we know valve canned the idea of episode 3 a while back,

im an optimist maybe they have a better story for HL3

 

You're too optimistic, since HL3 is probably never going to happen. There aren't HL writers in Valve anymore

[Haaselh0ff]

I just hope Marc isn't ending his career here, he is such an amazing writer and storyteller and I'd hate to see Valve have to go to court with him over "leaking" or otherwise "discussing" this unreleased game.

[TacoSenpai]

But you forgot Valve doesn't make games...they just sell them.

[PlayStation 2]

There hasn't been any meaningful update to Team Fortess 2, Counter-Strike and Dota 2 in ages. I doubt there's any work being done on what we'll call "Episode 3".

[onlybuilt4cubanxlinx]

Would love to see this come to light. I can only imagine the lights and explosions of the ship crashing into the combine. 

[Brooksie359]

9 hours ago, JaegerB said:

The steam reviews aren't exactly flattering.

Well steam reviews aren't a metric of how well the game sells. The game is a huge success and had the most online player on steam of any game. How good the reviews are and your personal opinion on the game won't change that. Bottom line is the game is super popular and objectively more successful than dayz.

[Guest]

This isn't happening, chill nerds. 

 

It would be injustice to launch on the same old source engine too. 

[dalekphalm]

41 minutes ago, Alexokan said:

This isn't happening, chill nerds. 

 

It would be injustice to launch on the same old source engine too. 

Personally I'd be okay with it using the HL2 engine - yeah it's old as fuck, but I love that series for the story and gameplay.

 

Honestly I've said this before: If Valve were to ever actually release HL3, they should do a super low-key release. No advertising, just one day the game launches and hits the main page of Steam.

[theroflcopta]

This is just the most frustrating thing ever to me. Over the course of like fucking 8 years valve went from poster boy of PC gaming to the biggest joke in PC gaming. A fucking shell of their former selves who only claim to fame is having THE SINGLE WORST distribution service on the market that is only popular because everyone is too lazy to switch from it. Like no one cares if the game is amazing no one cares if it's original no one cares if its everything we hoped for. Half life is so inherently integral to PC gaming culture it DESERVES to be made. It's like our fucking bible or something and they just shrug their fucking shoulders and say "Eh it won't meet expectations so why try." Mother fucker our expectations is a game, just a fucking functioning game.

 Just, they can't realize that they didn't only make a fun game. They made a calling card, a hallmark for PC gaming. Half-life means something more to us than just a pretty good game. It means something more than the video game industry. It really is our cultural icon. It's our Star Wars our Harry Potter our Macbeth. And to sit there and say that isn't worth their effort proves their are cynical money grubbing shells of their former selves at worst. Or too stupid to realize what they should be doing at best.

[Derangel]

6 hours ago, Haaselh0ff said:

I just hope Marc isn't ending his career here, he is such an amazing writer and storyteller and I'd hate to see Valve have to go to court with him over "leaking" or otherwise "discussing" this unreleased game.

Marc quit working in video games once he left Valve. He went to work on his own and write novels now.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, Derangel said:

Marc quit working in video games once he left Valve. He went to work on his own and write novels now.

I'd honestly be okay with an authorized licensed HL novel, if he were allowed to be the one to write it.

[vorticalbox]

i really should play half life, see what the fuss is about.... I did play portal and part of portal 2. i have the orange box on Xbox so best go find the disk

[Agosto]

1 minute ago, vorticalbox said:

i really should play half life, see what the fuss is about.... I did play portal and part of portal 2. i have the orange box on Xbox so best go find the disk

You should really play them in order of release (HL, HL2, Portal, Portal 2)

HL1 is good but not exceptional for a current gaming perspective, since it aged badly imho. HL2 is a freakin masterpiece.

[TacoSenpai]

Then...shattering expectations Valve will announce Episode 3 and Half Life 3 bundled to be exclusive on the Nvidia Shield.

[vorticalbox]

1 minute ago, Agost said:

You should really play them in order of release (HL, HL2, Portal, Portal 2)

HL1 is good but not exceptional for a current gaming perspective, since it aged badly imho. HL2 is a freakin masterpiece.

i don't really play games that's much anymore, i play some destiny (not so much now), euro truck sim 2 and Minecraft.

 

My "current" gaming perspective is limited to 2 games that don't really have a story and one that was utter garbage on release. 

 

I only have the orange box so will need to get the others, sure they are cheap.

[Agosto]

16 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

i don't really play games that's much anymore, i play some destiny (not so much now), euro truck sim 2 and Minecraft.

 

My "current" gaming perspective is limited to 2 games that don't really have a story and one that was utter garbage on release. 

 

I only have the orange box so will need to get the others, sure they are cheap.

HL1 is about 18 hours, HL2 about 30 including the two episodes. Portal is only 3 hours long, Portal 2 lasts about 9 hours (I played through it in a single day after an exam)

[Cookybiscuit]

11 hours ago, kilgore_T said:

 

im not worried , it is for episode 3 not HL3 we know valve canned the idea of episode 3 a while back,

im an optimist maybe they have a better story for HL3

 

They were never going to release HL2 EP3, it would have been terrible marketing to release any HL product branded as such any later than 3 years after HL2. The main writer posting the ending to HL is proof the entire series is over and it's not coming back, if Volvo were still working on it he wouldn't release it or he'd be sued to oblivion.

[YoloSwag]

I think he released this under frustration that it would never come into fruition.

 

Some guy in Valve said there were so many projects on this going up but cancelled because they think it wouldn't live up to expectations.

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, YoloSwag said:

I think he released this under frustration that it would never come into fruition.

 

Some guy in Valve said there were so many projects on this going up but cancelled because they think it wouldn't live up to expectations.

Frankly I think Valve may have unrealistic expectations for what to "live up to".

 

No normal fan of HL is expecting the best thing ever made that must be so amazing that it'll literally make their head explode. Normal fans, frankly, just want closure on the story - the story is why we played those games to begin with.

 

Yes there were interesting and sometimes innovative gameplay elements to the HL games, but largely they were renown for the engaging story.

 

I think Valve should license out HL to a top tier studio if they're not going to make games anymore. Hire Marc Laidlaw as story lead, and let a good studio do what they do best.

 

But I do think in the current climate, with Valve the way it is, this game is not getting made.