Some actual real Half Life developments...

[Spencer Petersen]

I don't think we need to be playing our Half Life cards to willingly. People are far to quick to treat it as a sequel a year franchise (ya know, the kind which is ruining modern gaming?) and forgotten what Half Life is. Half Life is the metaphorical Jesus of the games industry. It shows up to re-guide us when we've gone astray and given up on single player FPS storytelling. It simply shows us how to do things right, and the world is better for its existence. Say what you will about the game itself, whenever a Half Life game comes out developers tend to try to take a shot at the single player story if only for the residual sales of being mistaken for Half Life. Its a beacon of the industry, and we didn't need it until very recently. The resurgence of sub-par single player is only starting to re-engulf us.

 

[yookiwooki]

What would you do if you're playing Portal 2 and suddenly a portal appears and gordon freeman jumps out?

 

[SextusMaximus]

From another perspective:
Half Life 2 is a revolutionary 2004 games which plays like an average 2010 game. I meant that in the nicest possible way.

I disagree though, and most Half-Life fans would too.

Can I just say also for the record that I'm not biased or a valve fanboy. I didn't enjoy the Left4Dead games at all and I was bored of Team Fortress 2 after 10 hours. Nor am I blinded by nostalgia (I don't like nostalgia and I openly admit most games I liked back in 2004 are now average or shit) I just genuinely think Half-Life 2 is still a brilliant game today.

I disagree again, I don't think Half Life 2 can stand up at all against games like CoD Black Ops today, I don't even like Black Ops, however Half Life 2 has aged awfully... However good it was in 2004, it just doesn't stand up well today.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

I disagree again, I don't think Half Life 2 can stand up at all against games like CoD Black Ops today, I don't even like Black Ops, however Half Life 2 has aged awfully... However good it was in 2004, it just doesn't stand up well today.

It's fine to me that you think that, but I don't understand why, and i've yet to hear any reasons from anyone.

 

[Seneschal]

I'm wondering how much a fan of HL such as you would let Valve get away with. What would you consider a bad or excessive change?

For example, can they add iron-sight aiming, a relatively inconsequential detail, or would the fandom boycott them for it? Regenerating health and cover systems I don't even need to mention, their inclusion would completely change the core gameplay, let alone anger the fans.

And another thing: HL3 will most likely be a rather expensive game; can Valve really keep the core gameplay and still make a living only on its old consumer base, or would they implement changes so they can grab a bigger audience? Because I'm under no illusion that the average player today sees health and armour bars as a bonus, though they might after an aggressive ad campaign.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I think iron-sight aiming would be a bad move since its just an unnecessary realism and Half-Life has never been about realism in its gameplay, its the kind of game where you run around more in battle and its more reflex-based. As for regenerating health, I actually care less about this, since I'm of the belief that some games work better with health bars and some work better with regenerating health. Half-Life definitely works better with a health bar though, so I would be disappointed, but ultimately they could still make the formula work well with that change.

I'm definitely not stuck in the old ways, I can accept any changes as long as they are for the better. I just don't think the gameplay of Half-Life needs to change drastically because it works very well as it is. I think they should focus more on other aspects of the product.

One more thing. I'm sure the money Valve makes now is mostly from Steam, so I dont think theres any immediate obligation for them to completely change up the game to appeal to more people, especially because Valve already has a large fanbase.

I'm not getting at anything, sorry if it came out like that. It's the internet playing with the tone of my posts.

I actually agree that the HL gameplay isn't intrinsically deficient just because it's old. In fact, it would be refreshing to see a 2012-13 game return to health and armour (the only obstacle to those is bad level design, but that's exactly what Valve does so brilliantly).

I'm only slightly concerned with the iron-sight mechanic, since I recently tried to play Timeshift (widely regarded as a sort of HL2 ripoff) and found the shooting to be tiring. The weapons just weren't palpable enough, for the same reason that Fallout 3 was hard for me to get into after New Vegas - I was being spoiled by the pervasive use of iron-sight aiming in current games. It's not objectively good, I just find it greatly more enjoyable than using crosshairs.

And you're right, it's not as insignificant as I made it out to be; it narrows down the FoV, it slows down movement, it gives an entirely different pacing to combat and I admit that I can't quite imagine HL2 with it.

But I wonder if this will happen when HL3 comes out. I haven't tried an old-fashioned game since Timeshift, and that didn't quite suit me. I know that in 2004 I was definitely the audience for HL2, but I don't know if I'll still be it in a few years. I'm actually wondering how much I'd enjoy a replay today.

And in any case, I wouldn't bet on a corporation thinking "we make enough money, we can afford to not make our investment back on our next big project". I get that Valve respects its (substantial) fanbase, but they're not going to do them any favours out of sheer good will.

Hmm, weird runes and sigils in my captcha. The Escapist is obviously summoning demons.

 

[repeating integers]

I don't think we need to be playing our Half Life cards to willingly. People are far to quick to treat it as a sequel a year franchise (ya know, the kind which is ruining modern gaming?) and forgotten what Half Life is. Half Life is the metaphorical Jesus of the games industry. It shows up to re-guide us when we've gone astray and given up on single player FPS storytelling. It simply shows us how to do things right, and the world is better for its existence. Say what you will about the game itself, whenever a Half Life game comes out developers tend to try to take a shot at the single player story if only for the residual sales of being mistaken for Half Life. Its a beacon of the industry, and we didn't need it until very recently. The resurgence of sub-par single player is only starting to re-engulf us.

...I think you may be taking this whole "gaming" thing a wee bit too seriously.

 

[RA92]

To be fair, every successful franchise will attract some idiots.

Indeed! Look at the Call of Duty games! Yes, I went there.

CoD is a Battlefield ripoff minus the vehicles, and BF3's 64 player matches are going to be more epic than anything CoD can even dream of.

Saying that, I still think Modern Warfare's 'All Ghillied Up' and 'Aftermath' are two of the best FPS SP experiences ever, and the 'Invasion' soundtrack was sublime.

 

[jbchillin]

half life 2 episode 3 is like the new duke nukem. but it will take twice as long to release.

 

[repeating integers]

half life 2 episode 3 is like the new duke nukem. but it will take twice as long to release.

So over 20 years? Yeah. No. As I've said loads of times before, 3 years is not that long a development time for a game.

 

[RA92]

Concerns about HL3 combat

Hmmm, you make some interesting points. But the thing is, I didn't really find the weapons and the shooty bits lacking without the iron sights simply because combat was mostly close-range. There was barely any sniping business, and I used the crossbow limitedly (during which I did use the iron sights).

And anyway, it's kind of interesting how throughout HL2's lifetime, they never gave us additional weapons beyond the one rifle, one SMG, two pistols, one shotgun etc because they weapons weren't the focus of the game. The Gravity Gun was. You weren't supposed to kill the Hunters with your guns - you were supposed to catch their fletchers with a box and then throw it back at them. I would really appreciate it if they provide weapons with tactical aspects, not just a different version of the same class that pretty much does the same thing.

It would be really nice if they brought back some HL1 weapons.



http://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/4/48/Grapplew_op4.pnghttp://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/a/a1/Gluon_w.jpghttp://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/8/83/Spore_launcher_w.jpghttp://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/c/c4/Tau_world.jpg

As for the question of whether the cross-hair and limited health would be accepted by the gamers, I think L4D's success would provide some good answers.

 

[Hitman Dread]

Valve is like the Cohen Brothers, they make games that attract the most pretentious group of people who try to act better than you for knowing more about it.

How in the world is O Brother Where Art Thou pretentious?

 

[Weaver]

I get that C.J. is probably "Cave Jonshon" but who is J.H.?

 

[Wintermoot]

What would you do if you're playing Portal 2 and suddenly a portal appears and gordon freeman jumps out?

see what happens when I press E and make a thread about it on the escapist

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Valve is like the Cohen Brothers, they make games that attract the most pretentious group of people who try to act better than you for knowing more about it. Playing Portal and Half-Life plus all the bull-crap spin-off from GearBox somehow makes you better than everyone else.

Bit of a generalisation there... some of us just enjoy their games. I love Half Life 2 to bits, enjoyed Portal a lot but I'm not a fan of L4D. In fact I rather dislike L4D.

 

[Kjakings]

Why do I have a deep seated fear that episode 3 is gonna be shit?

I think at this stage it'll be Half Life 3, with huge updates to the engine and gameplay. Too late for Ep 3 now.

New Half-Life games are named based on story developments, nothing else. It will still be episode three because all of the Half-Life 2 games have been about the Combine, and Ep3 will be the culmination of that. Half-Life three (rumoured release date, 2184) will probably be all about Gman and his employers.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I've been waiting all goddamned day to find an appropriate place to insert that.

OT: I'm not worried about the combat or gameplay. I'm worried about how they're going to tie off all of the inexplicable and arbitrary loop holes in the story so far.

In other words.....I'm worried that Half-Life might become gaming's LOST.....

Admit it...it's an understandable concern.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Episode 3 will most likely be the beginning of Half Life 3. At this point releasing another episode doesn't make sense, just tie it into the new game and make it longer.

 

[repeating integers]

Why do I have a deep seated fear that episode 3 is gonna be shit?

I think at this stage it'll be Half Life 3, with huge updates to the engine and gameplay. Too late for Ep 3 now.

New Half-Life games are named based on story developments, nothing else. It will still be episode three because all of the Half-Life 2 games have been about the Combine, and Ep3 will be the culmination of that. Half-Life three (rumoured release date, 2184) will probably be all about Gman and his employers.

Except if Valve follows their previous trend, they won't bother with episode 3 anyway. They'll just release Half-Life 3 in a completely different setting, with completely new enemies and make it look as if it's completely unrelated to Half-Life 2 without resolving anything. Then they'll reveal everything throughout the game at a frustratingly slow pace.

(Just kidding of course)

 

[SextusMaximus]

I disagree again, I don't think Half Life 2 can stand up at all against games like CoD Black Ops today, I don't even like Black Ops, however Half Life 2 has aged awfully... However good it was in 2004, it just doesn't stand up well today.

It's fine to me that you think that, but I don't understand why, and i've yet to hear any reasons from anyone.

I appreciate that back in the day it was the new big thing, but because of that fact, so many other games have copied it, and some have done it better. The graphics are obviously out of date by now (I actually LOVE playing the first Half Life game btw, I think it's a much better game than number 2 and I played the first afterwards), the engine is old (it IS a good engine, but for God's sake, there's only so much you can do with so many updates), the guns aren't creative compared to some of the stuff you get with the likes of Halo, there's also FAR more variation of weapons in other games (Dead Rising 2, Borderlands, etc.), the puzzles have been done and done better (some are fun, just not as creative as others - mainly puzzle titles to be fair), the enemies are repetitive, the enemies are repetitive (see what I did there?), the enemies are also very bland (HL1 enemies were far more creative and fun!), the cut scenes MAY be interactive, but they're also extremely bland - sure you can move around in them, but at the end of the day, you just watch people talk - pre rendered cinematics provide the opportunity for a much more varied and cinematic cutscene; of course a good example of a cutscene where you can move around is Battlefield BC 2, the intro - however that provides the beautiful and cinematic environment HL2 just doesn't provide anymore. The atmosphere and story are the only things that really hold up in terms of the game being playable today, and that's not - in my opinion - enough to warrant a playthrough.

and yeah, some of these details don't apply in the utterly awesome Ravenholm chapter. But just... shh. SHHHH.

I might also add, these complaints were all invalid in 2004 when the game was released (it was 2004, right?) - my argument is not that the game is bad, but that the game has aged poorly.

Examples of games that have aged well? Thief games, Stronghold series, Rome Total War - all games with a set focus on gameplay that few other games have taken advantage of, sadly so many companies have taken advantages of HL2's gameplay that it has been outdone many - a -time.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Portal 2 hasn't even taken a full step out the door and people are already speculating about Episode 3.

Sheesh, do you guys get bored of having something new for eighteen seconds?