Is Half-Life 3 really that anticipated?

[Not Lord Atkin]

Just reiterating what has already been said: Half Life 3 is at this point a running joke in the industry. It's like the new Duke Nukem Forever.

Except if it ever gets released, it actually have a chance of being good. No, it's never going to live up to the expectations but it might not be the embarassment that Duke Nukem was. Not that Duke Nukem ever stood a chance of being halfway decent.

 

[Septerra Core]

I cant wait untill it gets out, they have not officially promised it to get out there. But we all miss gordon freeman and his crowbar. From wath i have herd it is planned to be made, how far in progress it is i dont know. All i know is it

1: Has been planned
2: Been planned as an open world rather than the "go this way to finish" style it has had before.
3: Gordon freeman is giong to be in it
4: Has something to do with the clip from the end of episode 2, the ship named Borealis.

Wath i hope is that they dont go with the most used healing systems in the newer games and stick with the medpacks and not call of duty or regen out of combat style. And that we FINALY can get an answer to who or wath is the leader of the combine forces.

That said, hope they continue with the rich storyline and keep up the good work at making half-life even better for each game however shorter they get.

 

[cypher-raige]

HL3 can't be further tromping around city 17 and the countryside fighting the Combine, even given a new engine and assets. In order to succeed HL3 would need to leave the Combine invasion behind for bigger, fresher things, just as HL2 left the black Mesa incident behind.

You mean looking for the Borealis in the Arctic like they mentioned near the end of Episode 2?

Remember Eli's dying words?

Not really. I mean, I like the idea of the arctic and/or a ship (out in the ocean, not in dock) as a setting. It would definitely be a visual departure, and I have an affinity for such settings.

But the problem is larger. The Combine invasion itself, like the Black mesa incident before it, now suffers from the Seinfeld Is Unfunny [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny] problem. Half life 3 would need more than a setting change to feel fresh: it would need a scenario/premise change. The series would need to move outward from the Combine invasion story just as it did from Xen invasion.

With eps 1 & 2 in mind it's still an unfinished arc, which would put things in a pickle in regards to a fresh start as such. This is why I said it'd be better IMO to just retcon out the eps entirely, and start clean off the end of HL2, which while it has loose ends of it's own, could at least be treated as an end to the Combine arc.

Half-Life is the epitome of that trope. People find Half-Life generic but find System Shock 2 more compelling for those reasons.

HL3 will explain the role of the combine Advisors who were mysterious figures in HL2 + Episodes.
There is also the Aperture Science stuff that is tied to the Borealis.
And G-Man's backstory.

HL2 can't be the end of the Combine arc. Dr. Breen wasn't the head of the combine, he was just a patsy for them.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Thats why there is anticipation for HL3. In a way they are victims of their own success, perhaps this has driven the lengthy development period, in that with HL3 they need to do something brand new again plus do everything else better than everyone else. And we want that. We want a new FPS that lets us do stuff we've never been able to do before, and we expect it of them because they did it both times before.

I think they are developing the new Source 2 engine (or whatever they decide to call it) and using that as the next big enhancement that always comes with a new Half Life game. It would make sense, since that's how they rolled out HL2.

OT: I think the anticipation has been steadily dying over the years. Every once in a while, Valve stoke the fire a little bit by announcing something that could vaguely point to a new Half Life game, if looked at through the right filters. I'm hoping it just doesn't turn into another Duke Nukem.

 

[thatonedude11]

If they decide to develop HL3, it will just be another repeat of Duke Nukem Forever. The product, however competently put together will be unable to live up years and years of built up expectations and people will hate it for no other reason than that they have unreasonable expectations.

Time to bury this one I think.

Eh, don't be too sure. It took Team Fortress 2 over 9 years to come out, and TF2 is pretty damn awesome. Valve =/= 3d Realms, and I wouldn't write off a Half-Life sequel just because of Duke Nukem Forever.

OT: I would very much like to see a Half-Life sequel at some point in my lifetime. It would just be nice, you know.

 

[Phlogiston]

lol at all the DN:F comparisons... HL3 is in no way shape or form in the same situation as that went through for development...complete change of engine after 2 years of production, financial issues and pressures leading to loss of devs from the studio, complete change of studio at the end of its production...the only similar thing is that it's taken awhile (during which Valve have been releasing other titles anyways, again unlike DN:F devs)...

I'll be very happy when it arrives, but really I don't care how long they take so long as I'm still breathing when it finally does.

 

[Something Amyss]

I often hear jokes about how HL3 is confirmed akin to number conspiracy theories.

Well, up until about a year ago, EVERYTHING Valve did stirred up HL3/E3 rumours. While not a literal conspiracy theory, these theories would oft employ the same sort of logic that conspiracies deal in. As such, the comparison isn't completely off base. And it wasn't that long ago I saw a bunch of people stirring up stuff about whatshisface....The guy in the suit who talks with an odd voice[footnote]Oh yeah, G-Man. Or is it V'Ger?[/footnote].

The wound may finally be healing, but I'd say it's been fairly raw and agitated for years.

I've even heard it argued that it's responsible for many of the negative trends we see in video games with cutscenes taking increasing precedence over gameplay.

It's different because Valve did it.

However, bearing Duke Nukem in mind, maybe it's best for everyone to lower their expectations.

In fairness, there are several mitigating factors here. The biggest is that DNF went through multiple developers during that time. Also, we know it was actually being worked on. There's a possibility HL3 has been developed in secret for a decade, but it's more likely it hasn't been.

I think the bigger issue with managed expectations is that there's no way for HL3 to live up to fan expectations. They've built up theories and their own sense of canon to the point where there is no satisfactory ending to the game for everyone. It's like Lost. I mean, Lost had kind of a dumb ending, and this is from someone without invested theories, but I attest that any ending would have pissed off a good chunk of the fans. They sold the show on mystery, and it's easier to build mystery than to resolve it. Heroes similarly asked a lot of questions, and when they bothered to answer them, the answers often sucked. Or, at the very least, failed to satisfy a good chunk of the fans. Now add a decade opf hopes and anticipation....

Not even the mighty Gaben (pbuh) could hope to come up with something that can meet that.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Gearbox really needs to do another Brother In Arms instead of fucking Borderlands.

I do seem to recall being promised snow at the end of Hell's Highway...and I'm still waiting for said snow...


I've given up on whatever the next Half-Life game is. It has been too long, and my excitement has long since gone out. Portal 2 raised my hopes very much, what with it's teasing of Half-Life stuff, but then the universe went dark again, and you can only stand in the dark for so long before you leave the area. At this point, when the game is finally announced and released, it will more like taking a heavy backpack off and slouching down "Finally," than a jumping up and down school girl "Finally."

 

[SnowWookie]

Jesus, it's not rocket science. HL 1 was an excellent game. HL2 was an excellent game, and as long as you view the episodes as part of the whole game, it had a compelling story. People want to find out how the story ends.

I think that the Half life series is really more of a thing among people who've been with it for the whole run, i.e. pc gamers from the 90s.

I don't know if we'll ever see HL3. If we do, I expect it will an enjoyable experience. It might not be earth shattering, but it will be the usual highly polished quality Valve product.

 

[Headsprouter]

I have only played Half Life 2, not 1, or either or the separate episodes, but I want HL3 to come out purely for sake of closure. If I've played the episodes by the time it does happen, I might even buy it, I'm sure a lot of people will for the same reason, just for curiosity's sake.

Bad or good, or just plain mediocre, at least we'll have closed the book on the franchise.

A direct answer, though, no I don't anticipate it, because I don't see it happening anytime soon, say, within a year or two.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

It is so anticipated that it has gone full circle and become apathetic.

 

[ThreeName]

I own Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and I still haven't played it.

The series just doesn't excite me, to be honest. I got the Orange Box for TF2 and Portal.

 

[Erttheking]

Frankly I'm starting wonder if they really are working on it, or if it's ever actually going to get released. I kinda doubt it. What are they working on now that DOTA 2 is out anyway?

Not that I'm too worked up over it. Half Life is a decent series and I can respect that it gave a lot to games, but it really just feel like it doesn't live up to the hype.

 

[Phlogiston]

Frankly I'm starting wonder if they really are working on it, or if it's ever actually going to get released. I kinda doubt it. What are they working on now that DOTA 2 is out anyway?

Not that I'm too worked up over it. Half Life is a decent series and I can respect that it gave a lot to games, but it really just feel like it doesn't live up to the hype.

I hate to be an aged hipster, but unless you were there in 98 you won't understand what they did to FPS. 'Ground-breaking game-changer' is the only way to describe it whilst dropping some cliche bombs. And yeah a lot of what was novel about it now seems such a common part of FPS design vocabulary that it doesn't really stick out so much although I still think it's got some of the best pacing of gameplay you'll see in an FPS (other Valve titles aside)

EDIT: Personally I don't rate HL2 anywhere near as impactful as HL1, but it was overall a better game just through iteration and polish of the ideas from the original and with the benefits of the rapidly moving tech of the time.

 

[Erttheking]

Frankly I'm starting wonder if they really are working on it, or if it's ever actually going to get released. I kinda doubt it. What are they working on now that DOTA 2 is out anyway?

Not that I'm too worked up over it. Half Life is a decent series and I can respect that it gave a lot to games, but it really just feel like it doesn't live up to the hype.

I hate to be an aged hipster, but unless you were there in 98 you won't understand what they did to FPS. 'Ground-breaking game-changer' is the only way to describe it whilst dropping some cliche bombs. And yeah a lot of what was novel about it now seems such a common part of FPS design vocabulary that it doesn't really stick out so much although I still think it's got some of the best pacing of gameplay you'll see in an FPS (other Valve titles aside)

EDIT: Personally I don't rate HL2 anywhere near as impactful as HL1, but it was overall a better game just through iteration and polish of the ideas from the original and with the benefits of the rapidly moving tech of the time.

I know. I flat out said that I know it gave a lot to games. That still doesn't change the fact that from a modern perspective it just isn't that fun compared to some other games I like.

 

[DrOswald]

What hype would that be? I assume you're talking about player-generated hype, not advertising hype since Valve haven't said a word beyond the occasional "No, really, we're totally still working on it, now stop asking."

Actually, they have actively denied that anyone is working on it several times. But that was a while ago, that might not be the case anymore.

 

[Phlogiston]

I know. I flat out said that I know it gave a lot to games. That still doesn't change the fact that from a modern perspective it just isn't that fun compared to some other games I like.

I know, I can read, which is why I just stated that unless you were one of the people who first played it back in 98, you probably won't understand the pedestal that gamers from that era put Valve up on (likewise for Looking Glass Studios and even Rare RIP). ie I'm agreeing with you and suggesting why you feel differently to gamers from that period...although even being one of those I never understood the full hype at it's worst, probably just teenagers.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i would like to see episode 3 first, but any new entry to the Half-Life series would be greatly appreciated


a new Half-Life game is one of the very few games id pre-order

 

[Kingjackl]

I'll be honest...I don't really care anymore. The more I think about it, the more it feels like they wrote themselves into a corner and are just stalling for as long as they can. It is a shame, since I used to be really into Half Life 2 and I really wanted to see how it all ends.

If it ever comes out, I'll probably give it a go, but I'm not holding my breath for it. There are other games to be excited about.

 

[Haakmed]

I want HL3. Keep hoping every Christmas for it to show up in my library just waiting for me. Not really waiting for it anymore though. Besides I am getting the feeling that anticipation for it is gonna give people the same false belief that Duke Nukem was gonna be the second coming or something. I really enjoyed DNF for what it was, and was $30 well spent. HL3 will probably be the same thing.