What do you want Half-Life 3 to be?

[MysticSlayer]

I really don't want to speculate. The problem is, every time I speculate about what I want a game to be, it always disappoints, because my idea for what the next logical step is almost always runs contrary to what the designer's vision is. I had many ideas for what Battlefield 3 could be, and I spent six years contemplating it. What did I get? A game that was so far below what I wanted it to be that it disappointed on multiple levels, and I could hardly appreciate what good there was in the game that I didn't dream could be in it. The only exception to this has been Civilization V, which was far and above what I expected it to be.

So, in the end, to keep myself from terrible disappointment, I'm just going to let Valve do what they want with it and hope it turns out to be good. So long as they don't completely butcher it in such a way that it completely destroys the spirit of Half Life, I'm sure it will at least be an enjoyable experience.

 

[Doom972]

No regenerating health, no iron sights, no cover-based shooting. I want the classic PC FPS experience.
Personally, I don't care much about innovation in the Half-Life series. I just want closure for the Episode series.

 

[Callate]

I tend to feel the two weapon limit in most games is a mistake, preventing people from making real choices with regard to using particular weapons for particular purposes, limiting them to always scavenging on the battlefield for whatever their enemies are using most often. Particularly in games with scenes where one simply cannot progress without, say, a missile launcher or a sniper rifle, it highlights the contrived artificiality of the experience.

Regenerating health can be done well, but too often it stretches out aspects of gameplay that are already tedious and repetitive.

Honestly, if HL3 came out and it was mostly HL2 with a new story and better graphics, I'd probably be pretty satisfied. While the tech used in the games has been very innovative for the time that it was created, what made the games feel so masterful to me were the strings of well-crafted set pieces, the atmospheric sense of place, and the masterful pacing- the movement from action to puzzle and back again, the difficulty that seemed to always make me go "ah-ha!" just before things became too frustrating.

I'd like to see a game where Freeman could develop a little more as a character by making some choices. About the only part in any of the HL games that I'm aware of that wasn't basically linear was choosing whether or not to accept G-Man's offer. Having to choose, say, whether to protect Alex or several members of the Resistance, whether to charge through a front entrance with Dog smashing things out of the way or sneak in through a fortress' side door- would be a welcome addition.

I'd like to see more use of physics in puzzles, but the only area that comes to mind to expand into is fluid dynamics. Areas with destructible terrain would also be welcome- HL has always been plagued with an awful lot of RPG-proof safety glass.

At this point, an acknowledgement that dropping the series that put them on the map with hardly a murmur is "not cool" would be appreciated, even if the game itself never manifests.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Gabe Newell's life. Seriously, the first act of Half-Life 2 is escaping and making sure you reach a safe location by hiding here and there. Change "Gordon Freeman" with Gabe and the "Combine" with "Half-Life fans" and you have a game there...

Guys, I think that I just invented a new mod for Half-Life 2.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

A F2P MMO with a large pay to win bias and day one DLC that was developed as part of the game and then removed, only playable online and tailored for console experience first with all later DLC timed exclusively to whichever console you hate the most, ported to PC six months later to reduce piracy but all QTE prompts (there are a lot of them) still popping up as controller buttons instead of keyboard buttons. Keep the story to a bare minimum and focus heavily on multiplayer which also includes a lot of purchasable weapons and perks that make whoever spends the most nearly unkillable. Also lots and lots of server issues and constant lag. Only available as an online purchase, no physical copies produced ever.

The tears of fanboys would be so delicious, so delicious indeed...

 

[Specter Von Baren]

"What do you want Half-Life 3 to be?"

Made.

Spoiler

And because of low content procedures and junk. I basically just want the game to actually be made and sold so we can get some kind of conclusion.

 

[The White Hunter]

Average.
Don't want it to be shit because then people will never shut the fuck up about it, but I don't want it to be that great because then people will never shut the fuck up about it.

But if it's verage the internet will automatically classify it as shit and will never shut the fuck up about it.

OT: I want it to be a pinball game.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I'd be happy if it had the same mechanics, same weapons, same graphics as episode 2. I'm in it for the world and story. I don't care about rabid fanboys arguing one way or the other. I just want another slice of Gordon. Sadly, it probably won't see the light of day anytime soon, if at all.

 

[bafrali]

I want it to be less popular than its predecessors so cluless gamers who can't think for themselves won't feel the need to play it to catch up with the "cool kids" without any regard to genre, gameplay style or story continuity and open a thread to complain about how it wasn't the second coming the people are making it up to be every freaking week.

Oh and released obviously.

 

[Rariow]

Existent would be a good start. Then I'd like it to be Episode 3 (Seriously, why do people forget that has to come before Half Life 3 all the time? It was supposed to be 3 episodes! That's why everyone's so impatient for it!). Then I'd like it to be like Half Life 2, Episode 1, and Episode 2, but more of it, and finishing the plot. Frankly, I just want a HL2 level pack again. Anything beyond that I'd prefer to be a brand new IP.

 

[thiosk]

What boggles my mind is that valve has said nothing. People talk about the hype train, a la duke nukem, that came through the station with announcements and the openings of preorders many times through its development hell.

Valve has said literally nothing, aside from "no comment," for years.

Nothing.

The HL3 hype has been entirely created by the community.

 

[saintdane05]

I want it to be a Facebook game. That's free, like Farmville. Just to piss off the world.

 

[skywolfblue]

If wishes were fishes:

1) A voiced Gordan Freeman. Booker Dewitt from Bioshock Infinite kind of rammed home how much I like a protagonist character who actually responds to what's going on around him.

2) More unique guns. Sure half-life 2 has the gravity gun, the molten-bolt crossbow, and the combine gun alt-fire, but the rest are pretty standard machine gun/pistol/shotgun fare.

3) Gordon Freeman actually having legs and hands whenever he's operating vehicles.

 

[TrevHead]

I've heard that it will be open world & multiplayer. If that's true then I'm not expecting it to have the same top notch direction of HL2.

I will cry if it plays like a modern console FPS (shooting gallery / regen health / slow cumbersome movement and pacing) and since I expect Valve to build it around the new Steambox pad it might well be like that depending on how good the controller is.

 

[Schtoobs]

More of the same. Am I the only one who thinks (hopes) HL3 will come when Source2 does? When (if) it does come, I'd like to see some explanation of G-Man and what it's all been about. Not a complete explanation maybe (a bit of mystery is good), but some.

Also, an inter-dimensional travel gun. Like the portal gun but only 1 portal leading to either another dimension or another time... or both. That could be sweet and it would fit nicely with the HL/Portal world.

 

[Someone Depressing]

After all of the false hype it's been gathering and how fans have been expecting this for so long (as it's probably not coming) it'll disapoint them.

Personally, if it's a frea-roaming, immersive game like the Episodes were with a complex and intersting plot like they also had, then.. yeah. I guess I'll be happy.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Its going to be a disappointment, whatever I would like it to be. Its been too long, been under "wraps" so-to-speak, the Ep3 promise never fulfilled (would have been at least some closure to HL2) and overall the series isn't the best ever. I've seen better stories ripped to shreds for plot holes smaller than the ones in Half-Life, and I guarantee it won't answer any pertinent questions. BTW, this is coming from a guy who's usually optimistic.
I feel the reason HL3 hasn't been announced is due to Mr. Newell possibly seeing that he can never top the previous games and he doesn't want to turn into the George Lucas of the gaming realm... which is very possible.
What do I want? A nice neat tie-up to the current story, some background on just what happened post HL1 and what the fuck the G-Man really is.
But I won't get it, I know...

 

[Lunar Templar]

in a word? good.

people will talk about it for a short stretch of time if its good, but if its bad, well, imagine the pissying and moaning about ME3 endings x1,000,000,000,000,000, and those piss and moan a thons are just oh so much fun for people like me who don't care about the IP to begin with.

or, Valve to just say 'nope, not coming out.'

I'd be ok with that to.

 

[War Penguin]

What boggles my mind is that valve has said nothing. People talk about the hype train, a la duke nukem, that came through the station with announcements and the openings of preorders many times through its development hell.

Valve has said literally nothing, aside from "no comment," for years.

Nothing.

The HL3 hype has been entirely created by the community.

This is something that frustrates me to no end. I've seen so much hype built up to this game that it's actually starting to gain anti-hype, if there's such thing. I'm seeing so much apathy for this game in this thread alone due to all the hype that is created by its fans. It's like a bubble, it rises and now it's starting to fall.

All I want right now is Valve to say something. Anything. Hell, all they need to say is "We are not currently working on the next Half Life at the moment." That's it. That's all I want. Being left in the dark is actually doing them poorly. People are getting tired of Valve's tight lips. Information, even information that's saying that there is no Half Life at the moment, would do them some good.

 

[Auron225]

In existence
Within the realm of the living
Rresent and accounted for
More than just a worn-out idea

Any of those will do.