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Has Half-life lost its Lustre? - (response to HL:Alyx)

lukilladog

Member
The trailer was over 9million views on YT and it was overwhelmingly liked verses disliked. And, it was one of the most upvoted threads on reddit of all time. Also, the Valve index($1000), Rift S, and Quest were sold out for months after Alyx's announcement.

Seems like alot of people are fine with it.

It probably didn´t get blasted in youtube and reddit because HL fans are grown up by now, we understand that valve doesn´t owe us anything, and if somebody gets to enjoy it, but not Us, it´s not the end of the world... we move on to enjoy other stuff. This game is gonna suffer the same fate of shenmue, where half of the fans are not even playing anymore, but even worse, because you want them to buy a nausea machine.
 

iconmaster

Banned
It’s just a VR spinoff. It’s not a real barometer for series interest, though I’d be surprised if even a true Half-Life sequel made a tremendous dent in today’s market.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
yup. it was great way back when but now...i guess most people won't be interested in it. and a lot of people certainly can't afford to buy a headset or won't buy one just for a single game.

Judging by the demand for VR, especially Index, since its announcement - no.
ok sure let's just ignore the pandemic across the world right now. i'm sure that has zero effect on production of vr units at all.
 
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Ristifer

Member
The ship has sailed. Even it this were HL3 and even if it was a non VR game the interest isn't there. I hope it'll be good, I hope it'll sell well but even a huge HL fan like myself is more interested in several other titles coming out this year.

Valve has nobody to blame but itself. They treated its fanbase with utter contempt.
I agree with most of these points. However, I think that if HL3 was indeed coming out as a regular non-VR game, it would still drum up a significant amount of interest.

But yes, Valve has no one else to blame if it falters. They left the IP on the shelf far too long. And this is coming from someone who still wants HL3 so we can get a bloody conclusion to Gordon and Alyx's story.
 

Romulus

Member
It probably didn´t get blasted in youtube and reddit because HL fans are grown up by now, we understand that valve doesn´t owe us anything, and if somebody gets to enjoy it, but not Us, it´s not the end of the world... we move on to enjoy other stuff. This game is gonna suffer the same fate of shenmue, where half of the fans are not even playing anymore, but even worse, because you want them to buy a nausea machine.

It got the opposite of blasted in the media though, that's my point. It was extremely well received. Then hours later you couldn't find the top 3 pcvr headsets, for months.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Half-Life did lose its luster, which is why no more were being created. Personally I thought 2 was a downgrade from 1, if still good. Valve finally got the spark to get that luster back again, inspired by VR and its practical potential for video games and are going all in, profit be damned, bless their sweet game developing souls :)
 
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lukilladog

Member
It got the opposite of blasted in the media though, that's my point. It was extremely well received. Then hours later you couldn't find the top 3 pcvr headsets, for months.

And like I said, there is no need for mature people to downvote or thumbs down something just because it´s not made for you... particularly when you are not even playing anymore. And my prediction about the scarcity tactics was that they would make the headsets available at the same time, just in time for the "big launch".
 
Where were people in this thread when I said HL Alyx should have been a PC game but then got piled for that and told to "grow up" in another thread?

Because a lot of people here at least seem to share my sentiments about this game being VR.

I guess I get it's Valve wanting to show off something different especially if the rumors I'm hearing are true that the game strongly suggests there will now be more Half-Life games.

Still pretty hyped at least for the official lore.

I'm not a fan of VR or Valve's decision but I hope it does well so we get more HL games.
 
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Romulus

Member
And like I said, there is no need for mature people to downvote or thumbs down something just because it´s not made for you... particularly when you are not even playing anymore. And my prediction about the scarcity tactics was that they would make the headsets available at the same time, just in time for the "big launch".

Right. So those mature gamers with full time jobs and more money aren't buying headsets, they're just happily upvoting the game, and the sales are fake.
 
It probably didn´t get blasted in youtube and reddit because HL fans are grown up by now, we understand that valve doesn´t owe us anything, and if somebody gets to enjoy it, but not Us, it´s not the end of the world... we move on to enjoy other stuff. This game is gonna suffer the same fate of shenmue, where half of the fans are not even playing anymore, but even worse, because you want them to buy a nausea machine.
Half-Life: Alyx will cause a lower ratio of nausea than any other Half-Life game. So much for a nausea machine.
 
For me HL:A is the 2020 event. I don't care about next gen as much as I do for March 23rd.
I'm really most excited about the story and lore expanding and maybe getting some questions answered.

bJywBPF.jpg


I have a theory that this....

ship in the picture contains the Borealis. That or it's what the Combine use to construct or bring Citadels from the Overworld.
 
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Mossybrew

Member
Nostalgia doesn't much work on me, and the Half Life games were fun back in the day, but they didn't change my life or anything. I'm perfectly happy to never play another Half Life game again.
 

fred

Member
Valve have messed up with this imo. What they SHOULD have done was have Half Life 2 VR available on day one of the Rift and Vive launching in 2016.

Particularly when you consider that the launch titles on Steam were so poor in comparison to what Oculus had available in the Oculus Store during the Rift's launch and launch window.

It wouldn't have taken them long to get it done either, they could have had 3 or 4 developers and 3 or 4 QA Staff getting it done in 6 months.

Valve have done too little too late imo.
 

Reon

Member
Valve will not make another normal flat FPS game now that VR is taking off and they're invested in the hardware. It's a joke that anybody thought it would be any different, playing an FPS in VR is miles different than playing a flat one on your screen.
 
Valve index is fucking amazing! 144hz is a huge step up from 90hz like previous VR headsets. Plus extremely low latency panels. I'm stoked for is release!
 

Romulus

Member
The upvotes don´t come from half life fans necessarily.

Agreed, but the surge of sales combined with the overwhelming positivity is extremely unlikely a coincidence. The game just looks great.
At a minimum, even if it reviews poorly, the games existence is undoubtedly the biggest thing to happen to VR. For people like yourself that want it to fail because you have extreme nausea issues, this is 5 giant steps in the wrong direction. Not only that, 2 more AAA games from Valve are exclusive to VR in development, Ubisoft, Sony, oculus studios, and Respawn too. Its chewing into regular game development more an more and theres nothing you can do.
 
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Paltheos

Member
Speaking only for myself, as an initiate, I was bored by Half-Life when I tried playing it... several years ago! Generally not an FPS guy myself, but it seemed heads and shoulders shorter than Portal at the time.

Gravity Gun was fun for a few minutes to bisect zombies with buzzsaws. That's about it.
 
Valve will not make another normal flat FPS game now that VR is taking off and they're invested in the hardware. It's a joke that anybody thought it would be any different, playing an FPS in VR is miles different than playing a flat one on your screen.
Yeah. Bit worried that if a proper sequel does happen, it's VR all the way.
 
By the time that happens, VR will be much more affordable and wider spread. Such a game would be at least 5 years out.
Yeah I was considering that and you are correct.

Personally I just don't care for VR for a number of reasons.

Really curious how well Alyx will do.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
My memory of Half Life 2 is foggy but I think the biggest innovations in the game came from character model realism and leaps in physics use as weapons. Like the Gravity gun or using circular saw traps and other environmental objects to kill enemies.

Because of this I tend to agree that a HL3 will not have nearly the chance of recreating that innovation because, especially in a single-player experience, there have been a lot of instances of innovation since then. The question developers would need to ask themselves is "what the next big thing?" or "What hasn't been done yet?".

I believe that's becoming more and more difficult...but I do have an idea of what they can shoot for. If they can revolutionize enemy AI while improving on all past innovations from the HL series as well other franchises that have come after it they could again revolutionize the genre. Smart AI is what we need.
 
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My memory of Half Life 2 is foggy but I think the biggest innovations in the game came from character model realism and leaps in physics use as weapons. Like the Gravity gun or using circular saw traps and other environmental objects to kill enemies.

Because of this I tend to agree that a HL3 will not have nearly the chance of recreating that innovation because, especially in a single-player experience, there have been a lot of instances of innovation since then. The question developers would need to ask themselves is "what the next big thing?" or "What hasn't been done yet?".

I believe that's becoming more and more difficult...but I do have an idea of what they can shoot for. If they can revolutionize enemy AI while improving on all past innovations from the HL series as well other franchises that have come after it they could again revolutionize the genre. Smart AI is what we need.

I think that's why they are creating Alyx in VR...

I'm personally more excited about HL: Alyx than the two previous games. But I didn't really follow games the same way back then, nor did I have a PC to run Half Life 2 way back then so I kind of missed the train on that whole thing.
 
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Romulus

Member
Valve will not make another normal flat FPS game now that VR is taking off and they're invested in the hardware. It's a joke that anybody thought it would be any different, playing an FPS in VR is miles different than playing a flat one on your screen.

FPS games went from terrible in VR(2016) to my preferred way to play FPS games in the past year.

And I've been playing FPS games for 30 years, and in 3 years VR reinvented the way I felt about them completely. Never thought I'd see the day as a kb mouse and dual analog gamer. It's not even close though.
 
I think that's why they are creating Alyx in VR...

I'm personally more excited about HL: Alyx than the two previous games. But I didn't really follow games the same way back then, nor did I have a PC to run Half Life 2 way back then so I kind of missed the train on that whole thing.
I hopped on the Razor Train with the Orange Box on PS3 and later the 360 (PS3 version has some major frame rate issues in certain spots).

I was very impressed even in 2008. How the whole world felt connected instead of being levels. It was long and felt huge.
 

Verchod

Member
The only negative about it I think is that is VR, which would be fine were it not so expensive. The extra level of interaction it affords is great but the price is too high.

I do think it'll provide that shift that previous Half life games have had, and I'm sure it'll be great. I really want to experience it. Seeing the recent screenshots made me realise how much I miss their games.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
The only negative about it I think is that is VR, which would be fine were it not so expensive. The extra level of interaction it affords is great but the price is too high.

I do think it'll provide that shift that previous Half life games have had, and I'm sure it'll be great. I really want to experience it. Seeing the recent screenshots made me realise how much I miss their games.
I'm with you on price. Maybe in a few years VR will come down considerably
You can get decent PC VR like a Samsung Odyssey/+ or other WMR kit for ~200, less than some pay for a mouse or whatever, yet it comes with all new controllers for both hands, the displays, it opens all new gameplay horizons, etc. It won't be the best but if you're penny pinching chances are you don't have the best CPU, GPU, keyboard, mouse, monitor/TV either so, that's on par, I do hope you're not complaining that you don't get the very best stuff for less than ~1000 as if that or even worse is not the case for all components (and even though the mid range that is the Rift S is half that or less) which is why most settle for "good enough for me" stuff. Consoles, when VR is standard (I don't count PSVR due to the retrofit Move technology holding it back but PSVR2 will do great things), will be able to get VR for a similar amount (eventually, probably not when it first launches) on top of the base console cost. It's not expensive and its cost is generally justified, not overpriced.
 
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Jigsaah

Gold Member
The only negative about it I think is that is VR, which would be fine were it not so expensive. The extra level of interaction it affords is great but the price is too high.

I do think it'll provide that shift that previous Half life games have had, and I'm sure it'll be great. I really want to experience it. Seeing the recent screenshots made me realise how much I miss their games.
I'm with you on price. Maybe in a few years VR will come down considerably
 
I'm one of those individuals who doesn't hold Half-Life in the highest regard, but even I cannot deny how extremely well crafted and engaging they are. However Doom always takes the crown for first-person shooter games.
 
even thou I can't afford it at the moment, I am still pretty excited for the game. being there from back in the original HL1 days makes me want to see things through. will it change the whole gaming market? I don't know. probably not as much as HL1 and HL2 did back in the days. but I do have confidence that this new step in HL will create ripples and shake things up.
 
the IP certainly isnt as shiny as it once was. but Black Mesa is a great way of playing through it with many elements updated to modern standards without watering anything down
 

Gargus

Banned
they definitely let the brand fall into a state of disrepair. Today's 16 yr old was born when the game came out.

I have a feeling Alyx ain't going to do anything. I hope I"m wrong, but feel like we know what's coming. Pantomiming and stumbling around in front of your couch with a box attached to your head.

They did exactly what I would have, nothing.

They could never make a half life 3 that could live up to the hype and satisfy anyone. It would get review bombed, bashed to pieces and valve and steam would suffer from all the bad press. They made the right move to not make part 3 because it's impossible to make one that would exceed fans insane expectations.
 

Romulus

Member
Budget headset winner goes to the Odyssey +
I feel like that headset boxes way above it weight for the money. The lenses really surprised me. $230 for the whole kit and if you have a 1060ti or equivalent, you're set.
 

RPS37

Member
Budget headset winner goes to the Odyssey +
I feel like that headset boxes way above it weight for the money. The lenses really surprised me. $230 for the whole kit and if you have a 1060ti or equivalent, you're set.
I’m gonna be so tempted. I just bought a laptop with RTX2070.
 
Budget headset winner goes to the Odyssey +
I feel like that headset boxes way above it weight for the money. The lenses really surprised me. $230 for the whole kit and if you have a 1060ti or equivalent, you're set.

I still personally think something like the Quest/Rift S is best bang for your buck and is well worth the extra $150. Especially if you're playing fast paced shooters (which HL: Alyx sort of falls into, although probably less so than multiplayer shooters), tracking is up there as one of the most important things for VR. I won't say the Odyssey+ is bad in that regard, I've read that it's serviceable but also not without it's problems. I just wish WMR would have come out the gate with a better tracking solution or would have been faster to update it. It's still a great option for getting into VR if you don't want to make a major investment. There are other benefits of going the Oculus route such as consistent updates, an excellent dashboard/store, and things like ASW (asynchronous spacewarp). I personally have a CV1 which has fantastic tracking, and matches my PC setup; it's not super powerful so I couldn't really push native resolution on newer headsets. It may be a bit of a gamble depending on who the seller is, but getting a used CV1 for ~200 bucks is also a good choice.
 

Reon

Member
FPS games went from terrible in VR(2016) to my preferred way to play FPS games in the past year.

And I've been playing FPS games for 30 years, and in 3 years VR reinvented the way I felt about them completely. Never thought I'd see the day as a kb mouse and dual analog gamer. It's not even close though.
This is exactly how I feel, I adopted VR within the past 6 months and it shocked me how well FPS titles have matured on that platform. VR is absolutely the way forward, I'm very excited to see how Valve can push that even further.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
This is exactly how I feel, I adopted VR within the past 6 months and it shocked me how well FPS titles have matured on that platform. VR is absolutely the way forward, I'm very excited to see how Valve can push that even further.
Tbh, Onward nearly perfected FPS controls (not physics or game modes, not AI, not whatever, just the base movement and the grab/weapon/attachment/sight/reload/gadget mechanics) super early (but continues improving), newer FPS work similarly with their twists on top but many somehow don't do basic things as well.
 
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Romulus

Member
I still personally think something like the Quest/Rift S is best bang for your buck and is well worth the extra $150. Especially if you're playing fast paced shooters (which HL: Alyx sort of falls into, although probably less so than multiplayer shooters), tracking is up there as one of the most important things for VR. I won't say the Odyssey+ is bad in that regard, I've read that it's serviceable but also not without it's problems. I just wish WMR would have come out the gate with a better tracking solution or would have been faster to update it. It's still a great option for getting into VR if you don't want to make a major investment. There are other benefits of going the Oculus route such as consistent updates, an excellent dashboard/store, and things like ASW (asynchronous spacewarp). I personally have a CV1 which has fantastic tracking, and matches my PC setup; it's not super powerful so I couldn't really push native resolution on newer headsets. It may be a bit of a gamble depending on who the seller is, but getting a used CV1 for ~200 bucks is also a good choice.

Playing both the CV1 and the Odyssey+ I'd say the clarity on the Odyssey+ is a substantial upgrade for basically the same price and having a brand new unit instead. I had zero issues on the tracking for Odyssey plus too. In fact, I'd say the Odyssey+ is on par or even surpasses my Rift S for some games in terms of the lenses. I can't put my finger on it but I definitely noticed it. I was a bit surprised actually.
I would urge people to upgrade to the Rift S too if they can. I prefer the controllers, feel, and ecosystem.
 
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