>>717080328 (OP)
it's gonna be disappointing regardless of how good it is

Then it'll just be another Duke Nukem Forever.
All I care about is it better not be HL2 all over again. No more cold war europe. No more basic-ass combine human troops. No more antlions. An all new set of aliens that fills you with the same weirdness vibe from older games.

>>717080328 (OP)
That's why they should avoid using "3" in the title. Name it "Episode: Borealis" The next game after that will be Half-Life 4.

that's why you kill your expectations for it

>>717080328 (OP)
Ive never finished half life 1 or 2 because they are boring. I have no hype for 3.

That's impossible.

>>717080328 (OP)
2 was already disappointing.
I just hope, like 2, it leads to a new engine getting into developers' hands.

>>717080328 (OP)
itll be disappointing if you're a fag. if you're cool it'll be awesome

>>717080408
>it's gonna be disappointing
it'll never be released so we won't be able to be disappointed

>>717080873
faggot

>>717080873
post your favorites games

i only liked the first one because i played the coop mode with my brother on ps2.
i didn't really enjoy any of the sequels

>>717080565
Anon...

>>717080328 (OP)
It will, even HL2 is inferior to HL1 in nearly every regard.

>>717081402
What is this, some kind of leak? They started making HL3 like 5 times within valve. All false starts, all scrapped. What makes you think this is their latest try?

>>717081436
bait used to be believable

>>717080328 (OP)
Then I'll go on a rampage murdering jews with a truck

>>717081548
That's a pretty commonly held belief on /v/, anon. Hell, I believe it.

My schizo theory is that gman is an anunnaki, he carries around a briefcase and if you look at all those sumerian drawings and shit, they're all carrying a briefcase looking item.

I'm used to disappointments

>>717081745
Half Life 1 falls off a cliff when Gordon leaves Black Mesa. The main campaign of Half Life 2 is not perfect, but at least it remains consistently good.

>>717080328 (OP)
The hype is too high. It's impossible for it to be good, no matter how good it is. Let it be.

It would have to be since it’s not the finished version of Artifact Foundry.

Valve screwed over the Artifact fanbase by cancelling the Artifact 2.0 beta without even allowing users to invite friends like they said they would in January 2021 and does not deserve your financial support for these gross consumer-unfriendly practices.

>>717081213
that was decay, not hl1

>>717080873
I recognize that mouse pad. That's Sena from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai.
Also you should finish your games, anon.

>>717080328 (OP)
Nobody cares, it took a literal human generation to come out. Everyone has either moved on or wasn’t born yet when it was still a big franchise.

>>717083636

I’m 35, played HL2 in 2004 and will play it day one if it’s released

>>717081890
You mean Xen? Yeah everybody knows Xen isn't the strongest content. But you have 2 boss battles there and it's over. Hardly tries your patience, unless you're playing Black Mesa.

Meanwhile HL2, HL2 ep1 and HL2 ep2 are extremely samey with only mild variations on themes introduced in HL2.
>Headcrabs! (again!)
>Zombine!
>Antlions! (but in a cave!)
But all of it, from start to finish is communist bloc eastern europe. And that's not half as cool as the underground science facilities of 1.

>>717080328 (OP)
Can't be disappointing if it never happens.

>>717083857
Why doesn't america have blocs? It would solve the housing crisis issue.

>>717084061
Lots of things would solve the housing crisis. Like forbidding corporations from snatching up domestic properties and creating artificial demand.

>>717080565
>>717081436
HL2 has better combat, story, characters and of course the engine itself(noo you cant use that because its not fair because one is muh old). What does hl1 has over hl2? better puzzles? lol

>>717080565
>Then it'll just be another Duke Nukem Forever.
I don't think so. Maybe in terms of disappointment in the sense of "That's it after all these years?", but when it comes to actual content or production value, Valve has so many resources they can pull with HL3 compared to 3D Realms or Gearbox used to when they were making DNF.

>>717084235

Valve devs "1 had better AI than 2"

>>717081890
The boat part of Half Life 2 is just as bad if not worse than Xen. About as long too. And right at the beginning so it actively makes me rethink playing Half Life 2 again.

>>717080328 (OP)
Alyx was incredible so I have faith HL3 would be as well

>>717080726
Fuck that, might as well get this 'hurr Valve can't count to 3' bullshit over with and just release Half-Life 3 as Half-Life 3. It'll be such a pussy move for Valve not to name it Half-Life 3.

>>717084235
>HL2 has better combat, story, characters
lol, 2 of those statements is false, and what characters do you have, Alyx? Wow, 10/10! GOTYAY!! Meanwhile Barney, Kleiner and Vance are just extensions of NPC's we met in 1.
HL1 has better setting, better plot, better enemy variety, better weapon variety, better map variety, better expansions, and better mod community.
>and of course the engine itself
You can have that one. Yes, you have the gravgun. The fun little gimmick doesn't make up for the rest though.

>>717080328 (OP)
Impossible considering how low gaming has sunk in recent years. The bar has never been lower.

>>717080328 (OP)
just don't expect anything

Honestly it'll be stand on its own no matter what.
We haven't had a real singleplayer campaign shooter in like 15 years?

One of the most bullshitty "leaks" from McVickers during the Alyx dev cycle was that they were adding a really sophisticated dynamic destruction system ala Red Faction, that would even factor in melting and deformation.

I imagine that is still bullshit theyre not working on, but increases in just raw power and overfocus on voxels since minecraft mean that's probably not entirely outside the realm of possibility now.

>>717084796
Shit, having the game being well optimized alone would probably make it eligible for GOTY.

>>717084584
This

>>717080328 (OP)
GabeN just entered a leadership role in a Yacht-building firm. This is to research and bring in expertise to build the Borealis to scale in the game, and make it as impressive as possible with as many gameplay-handles and functions as possible, outnumbering any other ship-mechanic in video games.

Believe in the plan.

>>717083857
Because Valve realized fighting aliens was the least fun part of Half Life 1. The highlight of the game was shooting the soldiers and hearing them say funny military words.
That's why the second game focuses on the Combine. The wonky ragdoll physics makes shooting humanoid enemies even more satisfying.

>>717084850
>We haven't had a real singleplayer campaign shooter in like 15 years?
There's a shitton of indie ones. That is like 100% of these self proclaimed "boomer shooters" out there, starting with DUSK.

>>717085064
they can be fun but none of those really that good

>>717084850
>We haven't had a real singleplayer campaign shooter in like 15 years?
There's Immortals of Aveum lmao

>>717081890
The airboat and jeep sections of half life 2 suck total ass

>>717080328 (OP)
If it's woke then it will go broke. Simple as.
If tlou couldn't make it then this wont either.

>>717085051
I don't think that's Xen's biggest problem. I think it has to do more with uninteresting environments. You go from cool offices that look like offices, crawling through vents and on top of ceiling tiles and into flooded rooms and electrified pools and all this interesting stuff... to barren flats and floating islands, but nothing there is really interactive, or makes a real world kind of sense. The best thing about the aliens is when they're shocking and new. But only the bosses in Xen are things you didn't already meet, so the impact is probably a bit diminished.

>>717085121
DUSK, Cultic, and Selaco are genuinely 9-10/10 games in my book.

>>717085406
I can only hope they finally figure out how to make Xen fun in HL3.

>>717085406
I didn't say it was Xen's biggest problem, but I agree with your sentiment. Black Mesa feels like a real high budget research facility. The meticulous level design serves both the gameplay and the story well. And while the Xen levels had some interesting aspects, like the alin cult themes, those were few and far between.

>>717080328 (OP)
Next Atrari crisis

They won't make it because it's what people want. Simple as.

>>717085819
Presumably we'll be going to a combine world instead of Xen. But yeah, same issue. Hopefully it is full of facilities that aren't just barren lands.

>>717080328 (OP)
You dont have to worry because it is never coming out.

All I know is that it's going to be VR only

>>717085406
>>717085872
All Half-Life levels except the Xen levels had multiple level designers making multiple passes to add “experiential density” (touches of polish and detail to make sure there’s always something interesting to do or see within every few seconds). During the final months of crunch they could only spare one level designer making basically one pass on the Xen levels because almost everyone else had to work on multiplayer.

>>717086184
I'm tempted to say they should have scrapped multi, but it's actually pretty fun, and I'd be sorry we lost it.

>>717086312
Not to mention it laid the groundwork for TFC and Counterstrike, and we'd probably be living in a very different world without those happening.

>>717084850
The voxel destruction thing was debunked recently, considering that feature was apparently more fitting for their Minecraft clone ARTI they canceled years ago and they haven't updated that specific repo in years since. I do think they'll still implement some voxel properties though judging by the Counter-Strike 2 smoke.

>>717084649
hl1 has no characters
>the security guard who shows up for 5 minutes
>extensions of what we met during hl1
yes, they're extensions because its a continuation of the story - they're made whole in hl2 not hl1
>better setting, better plot, better enemy variety, better weapon variety, better map variety
no, no, yes, no, no - to the weapon point, because the gravity gun makes the environment a weapon hl2 beats, or at the very least equals hl1 in that aspect
>>717084481
this is possible, although I never noticed a difference

>>717086887
>hl1 has no characters
It has Gman, it has Barney (they're all one guy, but who cares?) and the basic scientists (who would be rolled up into Kleiner) have plenty of character. But even if it didn't, nobody cares. Nobody plays an FPS for the cast.
>to the weapon point, because the gravity gun makes the environment a weapon
There's only like 3 things that don't just clobber enemies with weight. But even if you count flammable canisters and sawblades as unique weapons, HL1 comes out miles ahead in terms of weapon variety.
>Hornet gun
>Gluon gun
>Satchel charges
>Snarks
>tripmines

Meanwhile, HL2 only has:
>Bugbait
>Pulse rifle

>>717086184
Strange how every critically acclaimed video game ever released had some degree of crunch involved with its development. Anyway, nudevs told me crunch is bad so it must be true!

>>717081806
Gordon = Gilgamesh
The test chamber is the Gilgamesh resurrection chamber

>>717080328 (OP)
Even if it's the best game ever, it's still 15 years too late.

>>717088652
That doesn't mean that a sequel to Half Life 2 can't be good. But it's true that they can't make the same game they would've been able to 15 years ago, or even 6 years ago. It's been nearly 21 years since Half Life 2 and 18 years since Episode 2. At that point, the passage of time HAS to factor into the game and its story in some way.

Maybe it would be easier if they just rebooted the series like Adult Swim did with Samurai Jack.

I'm gay and there is nothing you can do about it.

>>717089643
>i suck dick try to stop me
uh no id only interfere if you tried to act like a real human being

>>717088652
Yeah the hangups over the wait are too great. I'm sure that even some people at Valve felt the same way. I'm not surprised if Marc Laidlaw quits because of that.

>>717080328 (OP)
then we finally move on
hl4 never ever ever

I have the impression that the cult following for Half Life only lasted because the game didn't have any sequels.
Basically, it was "okay" to like movie games where the gameplay gives way to narrative and scripted situations when Half Life came out. Over time, this style has taken on a negative stigma, just look at how PlayStation games like Last of Us 2 are generally considered trash for normalfags for being "movies" instead of games.
Half Life escaped this stigma simply because the series hasn't received any new releases since then. Half Life 3 would be the point where people would finally stop and say, "Wait a minute, it's just another corridor shooter movie narrative driven game!"

>>717085897
More like the next 3DO collapse. They’re banking on nostalgia while pushing overpriced plastic with zero killer apps. Atari’s modern strategy is basically hoping boomers confuse "modern retro" with actual value. Hot take: they’ll flub this harder than the VCS, and that already came out of the womb stillborn.

>>717086887
>better enemy variety
FUCK NO, what are you talking about?

>>717080328 (OP)
It'll still be Half-Life. I found Black Mesa to be disappointing for what a weird take on the original game it turned out to be (cutting various levels, extending Xen, slapping set piece fights into places for no real reason, butchering the HECU by making them dumb fucks that run at you) but at the end of the day it was more Half-Life, even as a fan game, and it was fun.
Valve can't really go wrong. Everyone said Alyx would suck but those who played it loved it.

>>717084235
>better combat
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

>>717081651
now i really want it to suck.

>>717084235
Black Mesa is a much better setting than City 17.

>>717084235
>HL2 has better combat,
Fuck no.
Look, the marines in HL1 had a habit of setting up bombs and getting blown up by them, but only if you interrupted them doing it. otherwise they were great fun to fight, taking cover, using suppressing fire, flushing you out with grenades.
HL2 Combine just run at you then strafe a little between shots. This behaviour was ported to Black Mesa as said by >>717094291 and you can tell. Treat a fight as something to handle stealthily in HL2 or Black Mesa and watch the AI shit itself, since unilke the HL1 marines they'll all run into a corner and let you pick them all off with minimal resistance.

>>717080328 (OP)
HL2 was more linear than my dick and people is still praising it as if Jesus resurrect for a third time and gassed the jews.

What are you expecting?

>>717080328 (OP)
>What if it’s disappointing
It's guaranteed to be, as Half Life 1 and 2 have always been overrated as fuck. The only important thing to ever come from these games was Counter Strike. The single player games are utterly forgettable.

>>717080328 (OP)
>tied the franchise to gimmick technologies

God forbid they just make the best possible FPS, now you gotta wait for smell-o-vision or whatever the fuck to mature for anything to come out

Valve doesn't get enough heat for dropping the ball on this franchise

They should have just concluded the story with a 3rd episode

>>717084481
>>717086887
The big difference between the 2 is that HL1 was still closer to Quake, so enemies would move around fast but come to a standstill when they attacked, if they weren't leaping at you.
Basically, they couldn't move AND shoot at the same time.
Additionally, hitscanners had a wider spread but the alien enemies were projectile based which led to more diverse sets of combat encounters compared to HL2s flavors of Combine hitscanners.
All of this, combined with the balance and creative uses of HL1s weapon loadout (which let combat have a bunch of immersive sim qualities to tackling enemy formations and manipulating the AI behavior, led to HL1 being really fast-paced, but also very tactical compared to Doom or Quake.
In HL2 they nerfed the speed, took an axe to the weapon roster to really highlight the gravity gun, let enemies move AND shoot at the same time with a higher degree of accruacy, and sacrificed the enemy variety in favor of the immersive themeing of the Combine struggle.
Thats not even to mention how enemy pathing was broken in HL2 compared to how it was supposed to be, which we saw more of in Episode 2.
AND how they made maps and arenas WAY bigger to allow for gravity gun/ and vehicle shenanigans, so that constant moving and weaving between cover was kicked to the curb in HL2.
Also most of the gunfeel is so much better in HL1 than HL2 imo. That freaking pistol and smg pale in comparison to HL1

>>717085236
>The airboat and jeep sections of half life 2 suck total ass
But they're the best part of the games thoughbeit. Give me an entire game of Highway 17

>>717088306
The entire last year of Half-Life development and year and a half of Half-Life 2 development were crunched. Most of the developers were doing it willingly though, due to being twenty-something, full of energy, and having no life outside game development. Adrian Finol infamously made Half-Life 2 Deathmatch almost entirely on his own because he was an energetic twenty-four year old with nothing better to do while waiting for test builds of Half-Life 2 during the final months of test crunching.

>>717080328 (OP)
HL2 had a perfect ending. Gordon beats the Combine ,at least for now, by blowing up the reactor and goes back on ice ready for the next adventure. Then the FUCKING EPISODES went and FUCKING RUINED IT! It was perfect. Perfect. Then they could work on a new HL title and they would be interested as they can maje something new and innovative. Fuck I hate the episodes so much. Fucking hell.

>>717084235
I fucking despise you, you mindless retarded fetus. I want you to die alone and in pain.

>>717088306
It is, the big cause is managerial incompetence and an unrealistic timeline.
Can point to more games that did not work with crunch than any anecdotal evidence you might pull-up, especially in AAA.
"good" crunch can be argued for, but that ahs to be voluntary, and even then thats not something to plan 3-9months around for a large team.
Not to mention development demands have changed significantly compared to the 90s, especially with HD development
You work better with a fresh mind, and death marching because someone got a bit too eager about delivering a set of features is bullshit, and anyone that argues in favor of it is a dumb fucking idiot endorsing ridiculous fucking incompetence

>>717084235
Typical zoomer answer. Let me guess, Black Mesa makes Half-Life 1 obsolete too?

>>717085457
none of those presented a cohesive, seamless campaign

>>717096121
Unironically yes.

>>717080328 (OP)
>if

>>717080328 (OP)
I don't really give a fuck. I just want the closure to the story. Much like FFXIV's Endwalker tying up the Ascian loose ends, even though it leads into an absolute shitfest that is Dawntrail and started a lot of bad practices, I was at least happy that the story was resolved. Tell me GMan's origins or at least what he really is, let us find out where Alyx has gone after the retcon in HL:Alyx, I don't give a fuck if the Portal stuff is still tied in, that's entirely optional, and let us take out the Combine or at least make them leave Earth alone long term and call it good.

>>717095808
KYS AIJEET POSTER

>>717095216
To this day I still have no idea why Valve decided to do the HL2 weapon rosters the way it did. It's especially a shock with how much the beta versions had so many variations of weapons that they could have easily put into the game.

>>717080328 (OP)
Put us back in black Mesa, or aperture, or some other science lab and I'm so fucking in

>>717080408
FPBP. It's been anticipated for 20 years, there is nothing they can do to satisfy people at this point even if it is a good game on its own.

>>717097495
Portal con gunno is enough for me

Maybe its because I was too blinded by hype and it being my first VR title, but Alyx still shows that Valve has plenty of talented employees that can still do good. I was even happy with Aperture Desk Job even though it was basically a 20 minute long controller tester on the Steam Deck. It won't live up to 20+ years of waiting but it'll still be an enjoyable experience.

>>717096619
How so? the AI is worse in Black Mesa, and it gets far too dramatic and "Hollywood". All it really has is graphics.

>>717097760
Not him, and I'm guessing these are examples of what you dislike as hollywood, but I loved some of the changes like the lobby ambush and the end of forget about freeman. The latter especially with how wartorn the surface has become at that point. There were a lot of other neat touches too, like the escalating emergency broadcasts.
Agree about the AI 100%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54rwawswQpM

>>717081651

>>717084061
Because even in the USSR the blocks didn't actually solve anything long term. They made homelessness illegal and institutionalized anyone they couldn't shove into a brutalist shoebox with 12 other people.

I wonder what kind of gimmicks Valve had to put into the game just to get people to think that it's worth the wait.

>>717080328 (OP)
It just being a good shooter would be a fucking miracle. The bar has literally never been lower, if Valve can stop chasing Gabes pipe dreams for five seconds and actually make an engaging well put together FPS with no glaring flaws or gimmicky bullshit, it'll be the gaming event of the decade.

>>717097401
The argument I could see was that the weapons they had in beta had overlapping uses in the final product (or made certain encounters and scenarios a bit too trivial), so they cut it for the sake of making other weapons more meaningful in engagements.
And any weapons that allowed for more emergent approaches to enemy encounters basically got rolled into the gravity gun (sadly).
They also lacked the darkly humorous attitude of the first game due to the shift into a more grounded and realistic tone, which I can appreciate but don't think it really payed off for HL2.
You can even see that shift in how toned down the weapon firing animations and sound design are compared to HL1. Along with making the blood splatters from hitting enemies more discrete.

>>717099574
You are right but are forgetting the dumbest factor that can make people forgot about the game if it isnt something icredible amazing like with skyrim 6, THE HYPE

>>717097303
SILENCE, FAGGOT!

>>717098526
Its fine as a secondary experience but it sure does demonstrate a lot of the problems of "MODERN" gaming

>>717082913
You guessed the character, but it's not the same mousepad. Hair and flower patterns are different. Also the art in your pic looks really cheap.

>say i like parts of hl2 beta more than what we got
>everyone immediatelly assumes i am talking about the boring grimderp world and not it having more enemies than zombies and metrocops
Shit sucks

>>717097401
IIRC from the audio nodes, they explained they wanted only the bare basics and gutted anything that didn't fit a specific role, which is depressing. I HATE such a utilitarian outlook in shooters. Guns are fun. Gun variety = fun. You don't have to try THAT HARD to justify every slot in the game.

>>717096207
Nobody mentioned "cohesive" or "seamless." Anon's statement was:
>We haven't had a real singleplayer campaign shooter in like 15 years?
They definitely fit THAT bill, though yeah, if you're going to be super nitpicky, they don't attempt to be an end-to-end story without interruption like Half-Life.

>>717094674
>taking cover, using suppressing fire, flushing you out with grenades.
Combine soldiers literally do all of that, but better, faster, without getting stuck on corners
>HL2 Combine just run at you then strafe a little between shots.
You never played Half-Life 2 in your entire life

>>717084850
I can see all sorts of Valve puzzles being made with the concept, it sounds on-brand for them to focus on environmental destruction since we've hit the cap on graphics for almost a decade now.