Half-Life 3

I guess we have to talk about this:

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In one hand, some of these scenes would have been beautifully rendered; But on the other hand, a nonending like that would have probably left me unsatisfied. I already let Half Life die in my mind, so I feel unaffected by the general qqing of the Internet over this. I guess you can say that half life died long ago, we just saw the corpse.

I agree, the plot is fine as an episode. It is not fine as a final final ending. Any true Half-Life finale has the g-man as the final boss.

Am I the only one who literally didn’t care at all about the overall plot of Half Life?

I just want the gameplay. The plot is atmosphere, but I never cared where it was going.

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I didn’t care that much, but I cared more than zero. I cared slightly more when there were allusions that it was linked to the plot of Portal.

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It’s also impossible for me not to think of Dr. Kleiner as anything but the Wally from “Wally’s World” on Planet Half-Life. Which appears to have been completely and thoroughly scrubbed from the internet.

Edit: oh, it’s “Walter’s World” let me try that google search…

I’ve not read what you posted as it seems I’m doing work at work today. But I remember being really excited that the plot connected to portal but at the end it’s just that aperture is printed on the side of a boat.

I was a bit into the plot. Alternate dimensions, invading aliens, being caught in the middle of a war beyond your comprehension. Cool shit.

I am mostly sad because this well and truly confirms that we will not get any more from this series. At least, not from Valve.

This was released by the writer who left Valve awhile ago. It doesn’t confirm anything. It’s just what probably would have been if they had made episode 3 on schedule.

I’m confident there’s no HL3 in any serious pipeline.

If they never make it, its legend will outlive all, with HL1 and HL2 serving as “proof” of the franchise’s perfect trajectory.

If they make it, and it fails, they take a huge reputation hit, ruining the franchise, and anger a lot of people.

If they make it, and it succeeds, it will make less money in a year than their core business makes in a week.

HL3 is a “Nelson’s Funeral Barge” situation. Success would be unremarkable, but failure would be a disaster.

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I don’t think failure is likely if they actually put in a serious effort. Half-Life itself was the game that didn’t get released “until it was ready.” They work on it until it’s a masterpiece. If it would be a failure, it wouldn’t be released.

Yes, it would make like no money compared to what CS:GO or DotA make. Nothing compared to what Steam itself makes. But they have god money. They make Half-Life 3 not because they want to make money, but because they just want to make it and win a pile of awards and bring joy to gamers everywhere.

They will eventually make Portal 3 for the same reasons. Probably if/when VR is for everybody.

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Never played a single Half Life. That Portal though

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I think the expectations that have built over the years since HL2 have reached an unreasonable level, and there’s no way to walk that back. Unless it is transcendently good.

HL1 defined a genre with the extremely limited capabilities of PC gaming at the time. HL2 was a new height of narrative “open world” FPS, again pushing the limits of PC gaming technology.

Other people are pushing these limits today, far more than back in Valve’s heyday.

Half Life 3 couldn’t rely on story: neither of the previous ones did. It would have be to be a gameplay revolution.

If Half-Life 3 had included the promise of combining the Portal gun with actual murder guns, it would have been transcendent. All these years later, there still haven’t been any games that do something crazy like that. It would STILL be transcendent. And if multiplayer were included as well… game of the decade.

A fully-immersed VR experience would be the next logical jump for the HL series, I think.

I’m pretty sure I said the same thing many years ago. I think you’re right. The first AAA full-feature VR FPS would be the next logical step.

They should make it like the Wu-Tang album. Sell one copy to one person on steam for a jillion dollars. Just make sure a good person wins, and not a shithead.

Time it’s release with another Vive pricedrop.

The NDA on HL3 apparently ended recently too.

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I for one always regarded Half Life as a story & atmosphere experience over gameplay. The gameplay has always been the downside of Half Life, as far as being fast paced, technical, glide-glide-blasty-shoot vs any kind of more deliberate tactical combat. Yes its very clean controls and very well balanced for what it is, and Half Life 2 improved a lot, but the world of the game, the Black Mesa facility especially, was always the main draw. The story came into its own in HL2, and the whole thing has always been about what happens and where, moreso than the joys of the blasty-shoots.

Half Life as a series could have been worked to have no gunplay and still been compelling. Portal is direct evidence to support that claim.

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