Are you still with us, Dr. Freeman? Not for much longer, I think. If only you had harnesed your boundless hopium for a useful purpose.
hl1 is such a better game
i did not like the vehicle sections they were such a chore
>>726994197Half-Life 2 is a better game in every way it is possible to be a better game, and even in some which are essentially impossible
I BELIEVE
>>726994197Nah
>gets inside a cuck pod and delivers himself to the villainthe time in stasis must have done something to gordon's intelligence
>>726998396it all worked out in the end though
>>726995575tying sprint, flashlight, and oxygen to the same suit resource was fucking stupid in hindsight thoughalso walking and jumping on physics objects remains frustratingly inconsistentalso the intro sequence isn't as kinoalso the combine are far less fun to fight than the marines because they spend SO MUCH FUCKING TIME ACCELERATING OUT OF AND DECELERATING INTO A STANDSTILL STATE that their AI never gets to do anything interestingstill one of the greatest games of all time thoughbeit
>>726994138Do you think they fucked? I think they fucked.
he needs to return
>>726999175Apparently some of the original HL2 devs agreed that the Combine AI kinda sucked in hindsight so hopefully whatever we get for HL3 is better.
>>726994197I like Half-Life 2 more for the vehicle sections oddly enough, possibly the only shooter that's ever done them well. Highway 17's the peak of the game for me and i love Episode 2 for the same reasons.
>>726999440it's not even an AI problem, it's an entity movement problem, like if you stick a pro F1 driver on a children's trike it's not the driver's problem that he can't win a racethe AI is getting huge upgrades either way so i just hope they made the entities themselves responsive enough
Do you believe in HL3?Because I do.
>>726995575i bought hl2 when i was 11, played it halfway, never got bored and never finished it. i bought hl1 soe years later and replayed the shit out of it. hl2 sucks ass
>>727000000Wasted
>>727000000CHECKED and WITNESSED.
>>727000000HL3 in 3 aeons confirmed.
>>727000000witnessed
It's Dr. Freemont, actually.
>>727000000The number gods have spoken!
>>727000000Witnessed
>>727000000I BELIEEEEEB!!!
>>726999440It's not the AI, it's the general enemy design and game balance. Soldiers are intentionally gimped with long periods of being stuck in transition animations to make it easier for the player to gun them down in order to play into the power fantasy. There was some internal controversy over this kind of design, which is why some of the HL2 devs have gone on to say they personally disagreed with it, but Gabe himself was in the pro-power fantasy camp and it's hard to go against that guy unless it's literally just him against the entire team (like when Gabe wanted Glados to have a face in Portal 2 and the entire team had to fight against it).Gabe is also why Half-Life 1 had so many jumping puzzles.
>>727000000Uh... despair sissies? I'm not feeling so good...
>>727000000I sure do now
>>727000000
>>727000000Nice
>>727000000excellent!
>>727000000never thought I'd see a digits cascade
>>727000000We're so back resonance cascaders
>>726994138Heres some things i think would be cool if the game were open world survivorcraftWhen commanding your little resistance dudes to attack or go here, set them up like its company of heroes so they gain cover bonuses from being up against half walls or cars or whatever. Have the ui show little half transparent yellow zones they can stand in. They can come with you in your car. If they die there is a system that can spawn more.Car sections- idk make that shit like pacific drive. Anamolies to avoid. Storms to outrun. Interactible imsim elements in the car for levers and buttons. Car getting cursed. Spooky radio. Less time gathering trash and more time exploring. No durability shit, more permanent upgrades.Craft weapon mods or upgrades. Silencers, extra bullet capacity, 4 barrel shotgun, crazy science team stuff. Craft barricades, traps, and basebuilding stuff. A lever to pull in the base which turns enemy raids on and off, like portals to xen or cloaking from the combine. Turning it off is important because games like abiotic factor, kenshi, or sons of the forest it gets very old very fast when you wanna explore or chill but a raid is happening all the time. Turning the lever on to allow raids lets you get progression or unique crafting materials.Game would need a ton of hand crafted zones, and only some rng areas between as filler and points of interest. You build a base with the science team and then can explore outwards in all directions eventually you can craft teleports to other spots on the map for secondary bases or go to zen / ice world / combine sections like instances.
>>727000000THOSE DIGITSHOLY SHIT
>>727001281these are neat ideas but progression by loot farming would feel extremely out of place for half-life
>>726998396gman told him to do it
>>727000000THE ONE FREE MAN
>>727001593More specifically, G-Man is "Game Man" in that everything Gordon goes is a result of his designs. The Vortigaunts are his annoying colleagues who keep making their own suggestions and G-Man doesn't like it
>>726999313>Half Life: Critical Mass
>>727000000HL0 confirmed
>>727001281I doubt there will be basebuilding of some kind. Weapon mods may be happening judging from HLA but that's it.
>>726994138>>727000000The right digits in the wrong thread can make all the difference in the world.
>>727000000I have never stopped
>>726998396what was he supposed to do?
>>727000000Half-Life 3 is real.
They've been trying and failing to make it since 2011. It's not real until it ships.
>>7270000000=6-3=3Half-Life 3 confirmed.
Ranging from least delusional to most delusional, what do you personally want from HL3?
i beat half life 1 in 5 hours when i first played it. i played it in like 2014 though.
>>726994197It's really notIts a great game sure but better than HL2? No
>>727000000KEK IS WITH US
>>727000000No way a mod didn't do this but take a chance to perceive those numerics of legend
>>726999313I WAS SUPPOSED TO PLAY BRIDGE TONIGHT!
>>727006702Least: Not VR-centered, not controller centered, just a sick pc game with good movement. Most: Mark Laidlaw's writing.
Why are so many fans of Half Life russian?
>>727000000WITNESSED
>>727000000YES I'LL NEVER STOP BELIEVING
Bros do you have faith for next week?
>>727009073At this point I truly think it's happening at Geoff's show
>>727000000You’ve convinced me
>>727006702My most delusional hope is the return of Kelly Bailey. It's just not going to feel right without his music.
>>727000000You're all excited about the wrong Half-Life sequel.
>>727006702Laidlaw is secretly working on HL3
>>727010530>HLX is a remake made by Valve
>>726998396Even worse, he does that shit twice. I have to wonder how the fuck Ross is going to do this part in Freeman’s mind.
>>727000000AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
YOU'RE ARRIVING ATSECTOR C LABS1.1.26HALF-LIFE: SOURCE 2
>>726994197You say this but forget about on-a-rail and xen
>>727011001On a Rail wasn't even that bad
>>727002605I don't know how I'd feel about that. I liked the weapon upgrades in Alyx but by the end of the game I was completely over rummaging through trash looking for upgrade points. Because I splurged on the grenade launcher shotgun attachment I didn't even have enough points to buy any of the upgrades I had left at the last upgrade bench, and I didn't really care since all the combat encounters I saw were arguably doable with just base weapons anyways.
>>727002605>>727011214Alyx's weapon mods were one of the things that dataminers found out about in Source 2 updates before Alyx released. I don't believe anything similar's been found for HLX, so HLX might not have them.
>>727010825He'll probably edit the levels to have Freeman go around and get there on foot. Either that or he gets captured and shoved into one by force.That's assuming Ross ever makes it to the Citadel at all. The series will likely end long before he gets anywhere near there.
>>727000428>Gabe himself was in the pro-power fantasy camp and it's hard to go against that guy unless it's literally just him against the entire team (like when Gabe wanted Glados to have a face in Portal 2 and the entire team had to fight against it)cringe>Gabe is also why Half-Life 1 had so many jumping puzzlesbased
>>727010201The alyx already (accidentally) that he composed for HLX. Doesn't mean Bailey didn't also contribute, but it's less likely
i hope HL3 has sidequests so you can extend a playthrough's time by 3-5x if you want to be a completionist or just dick around a lot in the semi-openworld large levels the game will primarily be composed of
>>727006702>Least DelusionalA return to the HL2 artstyle (no pauldrons, no Mass Effect guns) and writing (no Russel or similarly written character. Dark humor is fine.)>Most delusionalA return to the HL2 beta aesthetics, the OICW makes an appearance, the MP5k makes an appearance, cremators, and Shepherd shows up as an antagonist.
>>727011001I like On A Rail and don't mind Xen.
>>727000000oh my god
>>727000000At this point, I think I'd rather there were no half life 3. Its been so long that there's no way it will ever feel like the previous games. It'll be a different game made by different people in a different style, but it will still irrevocably redefine what Half-Life is forever, and I think that would be for the worse.Entropy Zero 2 is close enough to Half-Life 3 for me.
>>727012080I’m fairly sure I’ve seen you post this before, between the claim that nobody working at Valve is working on HLX and brining up Entropy Zero. As everyone else has, potentially, already told you a shocking amount of HL1/2/Episode devs worked on Alyx and seemingly HLX
>>727012080Entropy Zero 2 is pure trash after the first 15 minutes
>>727012261This is the first time I've said this and probably the first time I've spoken to you.Anyways, even if they are the same people, they either aren't the right same people, or have changed so much since 2007 that they may as well be different people. I dislike Alyx because it purposely breaks away so severely from hallmarks of the series like its design language and writing style.
>>727012080Robin Walker was the guy who directed Alyx and he's been at Valve since HL1, and you might also know him as the guy who made Team Fortress.
>>727012353A lot of the dialogue is bad, but the gameplay is solid, the levels are beautiful, the set pieces are excellent, the music is great, and it even has good science fiction going on. All that stuff about the Aperture time travel was really interesting.The only real problems are that some enemies have way more HP than they should (vorts and helmet rebels), and that they gave Bad Cop too much character. He was good as a stoic sociopath who spits the occasional one liner and trades barbs with the defiant rebels. He's not good when he's constantly telling the player what to do, making marvel movie jokes, and trying to be a sympathetic human who cares about his daughter.
>>727012607Either he's changed a lot since 1998 or it was other people leaving that took that all important something from the project.
>>727000000My resonance is cascading
>>727006702>most delusionalMarc Laidlaw, Kelly Bailey, Ted Backman and John Guthrie are coming back for this. >least delusionalThe game will take place in Aperture for a chapter or two.
>>727011810They were planning for it, at least in the first iteration, based on the leaked codes back then. Who knows if they're still doing it this time.
>>726999313This you?https://www.youtube.com/@OttisEnjoyer/videos
>>727012681the gameplay is just regular HL2 but hamstrung by mediocre-to-terrible level design, horrible and counterintuitive puzzles, and a perspective on combat that thinks dumping enemies on you is epic and cool and goodit has a couple interesting setpieces, the music and VA is decent, and the first 10-15 minutes in the metrocop station is cool, but that's it
>>727006702most delusional: Chell makes an appearance and teaches Gordan how to use portals
>>727012926>the gameplay is just regular HL2No its not, the varied arsenal of weapons, more mobile enemies, more enemy variety, and faster time to kill makes play vary differently from HL2. Its a lot closer to Hl1 in terms of how it forces you to play tactically and use all the gameplay elements to succeed. Hl2 just wants you to shoot enemies with the highest DPS gun as fast as possible when you see them, then use the allotted set peice weapon (grenades, rpg, or bug bait) when the set piece calls for it. Occasionally you can use your arsenal for actual tactics before or at the start of a fight, but it quickly devolves into running around and frantically shooting people. Most of the fun in the combat comes from the gravity gun, which is admittedly a very good weapon that adds a decent amount of variety to the game.> but hamstrung by mediocre-to-terrible level designWhat's wrong with the level design? > horrible and counterintuitive puzzlesWhat puzzles? All it has are sections where you have to find a level and pull it and the occasional floor is lava segment.>and a perspective on combat that thinks dumping enemies on you is epic and cool and goodIt does get a bit slaughter map-ish towards thee end, but it fits the tone and it gives you more than enough tools to deal with it. Plus its a nice challenge for someone who's spent the past decade beating every Half Life game on hard over and over again.
>>727008649City 17 is basically a slavic city, it was modeled after Sofia, Bulgaria. So I guess it's relatable in that sense.Another reason might be that it simply runs on anything, like most games from the era.
>>727013713I think its the mod support. Russians love FPS mods. They love making them and they love playing them.
my child will NOT smuggle the turrets past their intended section!
>>727013945How'd you get that many? I only managed to get five.
>>727013992Bring 2 from the first section, 3 from the second section, and the final section gives you 3 more for a total of 8It was funny that the developer commentary said that they purposefully designed the level to be inconvenient to discourage you from taking the turrets, and judging by how they overlooked that the turrets will kill eli if they get the chance and softlock you, they must've thought no one would be crazy enough to actually do it
>>727014132Presumably they saw all their play testers give up and leave the turrets behind
>>727014132Kind of related, I played EZ 2 for the first time recently, and I brought that one working turret (the white one) from the zombie lab section all the way to the end of the game. I think the devs figured players would give up at some point, because while you can mount the turret on the roof of the APC and keycode doors will react to it for the first section, it doesn't work in any of the turret mounting places after that.
>>727014391Oh yeah I did that too. It was useful since it never ran out of bullets.The worst part was the minecart area as you leave the Xen infested area. I had to do so many glitches to be able to get the turret through there
>>727014595Ok when I say the whole game, I really mean up the the minecart, since I didn't think it was possible to get it past there. How did you do it?
SALAM ALLEIKUM FREEMAN
>>727014692I took the turret and jumped through the area past the minecart. It's poisonous so I had to set it to easy difficulty so I didn't die. At the end of that path is a locked door that only opens when the minecart goes by. I leaned the turret against the door in such a way that the minecart would knock the turret into the room. Often times it'd get stuck as I did this so it took a lot of trial and error but I eventually got it legit.After that part there wasn't much difficulty, comparatively speaking.
>>727014918It didn't let me get out of the mine cart.
>>727000000witnessed....
>>727015541What you need to do is>Before ever getting into the minecart, go down the poisonous path and lean the turret against the wall>Then head back to the minecart>Ride the minecart which will hopefully knock the turret into the room>When the minecart lets you out, then you can go grab the turretA common issue I faced was the minecart running over the turret and it being pinned under the minecart at the end, being completely inaccessible. It's really finicky but I got it to work eventually
>>727016032does the AI uploa station react to the turret at all? I don't expect a special ending or anything, but does it act like you plugged Wilson into the?
>>727000000HL3 CONFIRMED
>>726994197because HL is a real game, HL2 is a tech demo where the story was the main attractor
>>727000000legend
>scrapped twice
>>727019072>the first time by valve>the second time by eli
>>727000000GIGABASED
>>727000000dont give me hope
>>727016137I couldn't plug in that turret at all. I plugged Wilson in and left his turret girlfriend in the same room to stay by his side
>>727013112You know she was in cryo in Portal 2 for at least a century right?some retards say its 50 thousand years, however i think valve said in interview that it was only 200
>>727010530At least link the videohttps://youtu.be/CSjM5poWd1s
>>727020430I prefer the idea of it being some obscene amount of time like centuries because its funnier. I also think Portal 2 takes place in a separate universe from Portal 1 though.
>>726999313>jumping is replaced with a dedicated fart button
>>727020524>I also think Portal 2 takes place in a separate universe from Portal 1 thoughPossible. Portal 2 did add the multiverse to the games in the Perpetual Testing Initiative, Then again portal 2 is far enough in the timeline that the only thing it really spoils from a non existent half life 3 is that humanity wins at the end
>>726999313I think I found out who ate all the donuts.
>>727020635>>727020524the facility wouldn't exist after 50000 years, it would've all decayed and all the circuitry would break down. it can't have been more than a 1000 years between portel 1 and portel 2
>>727020430For some reasons people took the whole "99999999 days" literally, and not as a "the machine fucking broke" deal.
>>727020635My main thing with Portal 2 being in a different universe is how hard it retcons everything in Portal 1. The facility is too big, the tech is too different, the tone is different, it has no relation to the main Half-Life series. The best way to explain all of that is that its one of those parallel universes mentioned in the perpetual testing initiative.>>727020679That's what makes it so funny. Aperture is a completely self sustaining system capable of repairing and maintaining itself even after being left with no central AI or human staff for thousands of years. Either Aperture's AI cores are built with some super sci fi technology that takes hundreds of thousands of years to break down, or they literally last forever. And all of this is for the purpose of appeasing a multi millionaire idiot who thinks forcing hobos to solve logic puzzles is science.
>>727020873>it has no relation to the main Half-Life seriesHow does it have any less relation to Half-Life than Portal 1?Cave Johnson mentions Black Mesa in Portal 2.
>>727020703Why not take it literally? The whole facility runs on absurdism logic. Hyper intelligent general AIs can run on a potato battery, the greatest moron in existence was created to nerf the greatest intelligence in existence, and its immune to paradoxes (which even the fucking crates aren't immune to) because he's that stupid, every single object in the facility has an advanced AI capable of lasting perpetually without power, even the fucking storage crates, the company went bankrupt despite making a hundred of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in human history because the CEO would rather play with moon rocks and logic puzzles than put any of it to market, and that AI mentioned earlier was the CEO's ditsy but pretty secretary after her brain got scanned into a computer.
>>727000000served a decent portion of my impetus to stop waitfagging and finally upgrade my rig
>>727020952No combine mention, none of the things from the Half-Life series tie into it (apart from the one Black Mesa mention), it takes place a comical amount of years in the future. Portal was meant to build up to episode 3. Portal 2 is a standalone game utterly divorced from the rest of the series.
Charge me up fellow freemen!https://youtu.be/YBJhzfvdyKw?si=6vFHI2UfwMoXkKNo
What’s the date to look out for now?
>727021528>subhuman twitter memeNobody respond to this genetic excrement. Respect yourself.
Play Half-Quake Amen
>>727000000CHECKED AND TRUSTED
>>727013713I'm Russian.I think that's what you said and then some:>The game has Slavic vibes>Runs on a relative potato at the time>Russians used to be primarily PC gamers, with no concept of what consoles are except for some Famiclones/Megadrives/The PS1 sometimes. Thus they used to be in what were PC-exclusive genres, such as RTS and FPS games, much more than the Westerners of the time.>Russians are the hugest community when it comes to CS, which IS a Half-Life mod, so there should be some relation by osmosis I think>HL2 was popular everywhere I imagine, but it was really glazed in Russian gaming magazines. It got a 10/10 in the largest Russian PC game magazine, at a time when receiving a 10/10 was like a once-in-a-half-decade occurrence.>As that other anon said, I too think we used to like mods a lot. That same magazine came with CDs which included a lot of mods and customizable shit. The number of Max Payne mods was insane. That said, I am not sure it was that popular with HL1/2 specifically.>HL2 also received a very full professional dub of the game. Considering the scope of the project, that wasn't something that was really always expected at the time. I haven't played the dub, though, so I can't vouch for its quality, I think there were two dubs actually and one was bugged or something.>Russia had the fastest-growing online infrastructure in the world (we've still got pretty much the fastest and cheapest internet on the planet pretty much). Which makes for much easer Steam adoption at a time where a lot of Americans seemingly struggled with that.
>>727021963also helps that the modding tools were extremely goodworldcraft/hammer is still one of the best mapping tools in existence all these years later
>>727021528Some people are thinking Game Awards.I think it'll be before because it would completely overshadow the awards.I'll throw out December 3rd as my guess because it has a 3 in it, and it would be exactly 3 weeks since the Steam Hardware reveal.
>>726999313>all these fanfiction mods that are sequels to the gearbox stuff>none of them think to add Otis
>>727000428the combine AI can actually be pretty challenging and clever in tight spaces but the game never makes use of that. Go play Minerva on hard and you'll see.
>>727000000LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOO
>>727000000I WILL BELIλVE
>>727000000>Do you believe in HL3?>Because I do.with those numbers? /v/ is starting to believe
>>727000000Not until I saw those digits tbqh.
Remind me what's the next cope date? TGA?
>>727023101Yes, if it doesn't happen by TGA it's all over
>>727021071Really bad time to upgrade with RAM prices being what they are right now
>>727000000Now I do!
>>727000000HL3 THIS YEAR CONFIRMED
>>727000000I don't believe anymore after this. I know.
>>727000000put me in the screen cap bros
https://arch.b4k.dev/v/thread/726621919/#726634523This series of /v/ posts goes over HLX, the old HL3 leaks and why HLX is different this time.
>>726999440To be honest the game needs F.E.A.R.-like smoke and mirrors to complement the soldiers' AI. What's the point of creating this elaborate AI routine when all they do in the end is mindlessly rush on you in a single file because bad level design prevents the AI soldiers from flanking you? I remember Arkane's Ravenholm had a prototype video of Combine soldiers mantling on objects like tables and such, I think Valve should do that in HL3, make the soldiers just as agile and traverse anywhere as Gordon, make them aggressive.
still no hl3 announcement.
If source2 modding tools come out the modding scene is going to be insane
>>727021528I genuinely think we won't get an announcement until 2026. HLX would destroy every other game announced there, even if they "owe" Dorito King a Half Life game after skipping the 2019 game awards.>>727025391I think a Source 2 SDK (other than S&Box) that lets you make anything, like you can with Unity/Unreal, would be a game changer.
>>727016829yeah HL2 was a tech demo, a story demo and also a gameplay demo. not a real game. it's all there just to demonstrate.... something. can't believe i got bamboozled into playing a full length demo. i now want to buy a source engine 2004 license and make my own source game with gameplay, story and physics.
>>727025952>HL2 is a tech demo for the Source Engine>HL:A is a tech demo for the Source 2 engineSurely, Half-Life 3 must be a tech demo for Source 3!
I hope HLX's setpieces live up to some of the crazy concept art made for EP3.
>>727027493I wonder if they're recycle any ideas from Epistle 3.And are we getting anything from Project Borealis?
>>727027493I'm really excited about the megastructure things they're going for. >The Combine turned the Arctic into a glorified scrapyard for ships because they had no idea what Borealis is like and they studied every big ship they could get their hands on>Canyon made from scrapped aircraft carriers>A system of "trains" the size of skyscrapers >Combine spaceships
>>727011439Isn't Freeman's Mind effectively already over? The latest episode was in October 2023 and I don't think Ross has even given any reason why it's been dead for so long. The gap's way longer than any previous pause outside of the gap between HL1 and 2's start. He seems to be content keeping himself busy with the Stop Killing Games stuff and the increasingly rare Game Dungeon here and there.
>>727013112The only way I could see Chell appearing is through a cameo via the Borealis shifting through time and space and appearing in the Portal 2 drydock once
>>727019072I will be so mad if we don't finally get them in HL3. The acid-spitting weapon burning things up and potentially spreading acid flames around would fit perfectly for the supposed expanded physics and interactions systems. Plus I think the cremator would make for a great tense early game horror segment if played right and you first run into it before you have the weapons needed to kill it.
>>727000000I BELIEVE
>>727029227>Gordon finally found the Borealis and uses it>The Borealis got into "factory reset" mode >It teleported back to Aperture >Ship went bonkers with the time travel shit>Gordon experiences different eras of Aperture from 1950s Aperture to when GLaDOS is in chargeThat might be cool
Why is it any different this time?
>>727029969See >>727023498
>>727020635I bet Valve will retcon Portal 2 to be closer to the HL3 timeline.
>>727029969See>>727000000
But what if Valve uses AI to make it? They already used Midjourney to generate designs for Deadlock. What if they use AI for voice acting for example?
>>727012080>>727012681Tbh, although EZ2 is fun gameplay wise with great new mechanics and lots of fan service that I appreciate, I'm not much of a fan of its lore. Some HL2RP servers make up better insight into the inner workings of the Combine than EZ. The Metrocop station is like your average toxic workplace instead of what is supposed to be the first step of a processing centre for transhumans, using drugs, subtle brainwashing and memory replacement in exchange for perks. In HL2 half the idle dialogue for Metrocops is Overwatch micromanaging and bossing them around. Neither EZ games explored that at all, ironically a spinoff like EZ Uprising did a better job (though it also has a more serious, HL2-eque tone)Didn't like their interpretation of the Advisor either. Just a generic mustache twirling villain. 3650 is also very isolated in general from the Combine. He doesn't interact with Overwatch, whatever he says to other soldiers is a one way street (because he's a fully independent entity), and tonally clashes with the rest of the organization. His only relation to them is through one mustache twirling Advisor, and if we're being generous maybe also a Hunter
>>727030126>They already used Midjourney to generate designs for DeadlockSource?
>>727030315I don't know if I can find it right now but there was some artist on the team who used AI and he talked about it in an interview. It's not in English which is why it's not easy to find. If I do, I can get back here later if you care.
>>726994138I stayed up for 33 hours and started hallucinating HEV suit sounds in my head. The HOPIUM courses through me.
>>727030126I believe many of Deadlock's artists were externally contracted to contribute to the game, so even if that's true it very likely wasn't someone internal to Valve.
>>727030695Gabe Newell has been pretty outspoken on AI and he views it positively. There's an article you can find about it.
>>727000000WHAT THE FUCK
>>727030786Yeah, but Gabe largely stays out of game dev these days, and he barely even works as Valve's boss anymore, he just spends all day on his boats doing marine research and/or playing Dota 2.
>>727006702gordon get portalpad
>>726994138I want to touch her booooobs
>>727000000So thats why the thread is alive
>>727031093sweater puppies on a 48 year old... erotic
>>727031043>but Gabe largely stays out of game dev these daysHe didn't do that much either since the Half-life 1 days. He was more of an idea guy who went "I want this in the game and you should add it". He could still enforce it and he hasn't legally stepped down from his position as far as I am aware.
>>727000000Such a beautiful sight
>>727000000IT'S A SIGN
FUCK THE COMBINETCDI HEKKIN LOVE SOIENCE!
>>726995575kek
>>727000000000000... 2 sets of three (3) zeroes.... six divided by two equals three (3)...confirmed...?
>>727000000PUT ME IN THE SCREENCAP
>>727019072Third time is the charm
>>727000000WE SHALL HOPE ON THE BEACHES, WE SHALL HOPE ON THE LANDING GROUNDS, WE SHALL HOPE IN THE FIELDS AND IN THE STREETS, WE SHALL HOPE IN THE HILLS; WE SHALL NEVER DOOMPOST. AND EVEN IF, WHICH I DO NOT FOR A MOMENT BELIEVE, THIS GAME WERE NOT TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY, THEN OUR HOPERS BEYOND THE COMING DAYS, COPING AND GUARDED BY SCHIZOPHRENIA, WOULD CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE, UNTIL, IN GOD'S GOOD TIME, THE STEAM MACHINE, WITH ALL ITS POWER AND MIGHT, STEPS FORTH TO THE REVEAL AND RELEASE OF EPISODE 3.
>>727031250YEAH MR FREEMANYEAH SCIENCE
>>727000000checked. witnessed. confirmed.
>>727000000CHECKED AND WITNESSED
>>727006702>least delusionalA Dyson Sphere>most delusionalA game
>>727000000Scripted sequence
>>727000000ebin
My biggest worry for HL3 is that the movement is going to suck.
>>727034872If CS2 is any indicator of Source 2 movement then its safe to say it indeed will.
>>727034919CS2's shit movement is inherited from CS:GO though
>>727013112>>727020430>>727020524wasnt there a thing in portal anyways about them figuring out how to go to entirely different universes? and cave johnson just used it as a way to steal inventions without having to do the R&D. like it was implied that some of the inventions they came up with just were stolen from different cave johnsons aperture science realities. there was a little clip of an aperture science office, where all the workers were squid people and someone portals in, steals a portal gun looking thing and runs away? you could easily just shoehorn in "portal is half life, but where portals events were the main thing" and have them interact just temporarily.anyways, i remember there being some sorta tech demo where they combined portals with time, so the moment you created a portal, savestated the environment, and i thought that was going to end up being used for something, never did.
>>727035858oh someone did already mention the multiverse stuff. welp.
>>727030691Seek medical attention *BEEP BEEP*
>HLX datamines indicate we're going back to XenWonder if the Long Jump Module's also making a return.
>>727011810Half life Infinite.
>>727036891I'd reckon that the HEV suit will be upgraded with more features as the game goes on, including the long jump module. Given how big FPS games are into movement stuff nowadays, there's no way Valve won't follow suit.
>>727037219>doom eternal but in xen>crowbar glory kills
>>727037405>enter Xen>"the only thing they fear is the right man in the wrong place" starts playing
Kek I wonder who this is
>>727000000Damn.
God I just want them to announce it already, we know it's real, we know it's survived last years playtest, we know that CS2/Dota2/Deadlock are all stalling because of it, I personally want the almost two decades of waiting to end, and we believe it could be releasing as soon as March. just start the marketing already.
>>727038438Chris Green
>>727000000AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
>>727038438>man fuck valve were never making games anymore>quit or retire>get a call from gabe>wake up retard the bands coming back together>stop calling me gabe>three>you son of a bitch im inlmao
>>727038976The guy was one of the major Source 2 devs for the 2013 version of HL3 back in the day. I wonder if there are more "old guards" of Valve coming back that we don't know yet because they don't bother with LinkedIn.
>>727039586Isnt there are a fuckton?
>>727038438That's not the only former employee Valve's rehired, by the way. Laura Dubuk and Richard Lord were also rehired in 2024, both of whom's job histories aren't listed on the Miro board.You can read more about them here:https://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Laura_Dubukhttps://combineoverwiki.net/wiki/Richard_Lordhttps://x.com/rich_lord/status/1763636295648399462Laura Dubuk was very notably rehired in Nov 2024, right around the time she featured in the HL2 documentary.
>>727039782>>727038438Tell me Kelly Bailey and Laidlaw got back too even if its just a consulting role
>>727039667So far from what I know>Laura Dubuk>Richard Lord>Cayle George
>>727000000TGA REVEAL CONFIRMED
>>727039891Bailey...maybe. Laidlaw, no, he's repeatedly said he's retired from Half-Life and wouldn't come back even if they asked him to.
>>727039891They should rehire Ted Backman too
>>727012452Have you considered that this is because it’s a radically different genre of game? If Ravenholm in hl2 were VR the game would be securely in the “horror” genre, but because it’s an fps where you have a degree of separation between you and the screen, it’s more palatable to average players and only registers as “that kinda creepy section” of the game. If it were VR you’d have people refusing to even continue when they got there.HLA couldn’t have as much of a dark atmosphere for these sorts of reasons. The more you embody the character, or, the less the degree of separation between you and the game world, the scarier everything feels. And Valve wants “Half-Life” branded games to be accessible to the average person.
>>727040387funnily enough what happened to alyx is the same exact thing that happened to hl2the beta plot was in-your-face dark and didn't playtest well so it got lightened up for the final release
>>727000000I believe my brother
>>727039450I see a kitten laying on his back looking upward at the sky while inside the clouds
>>727040509It was overdone There is a such thing as “full-retard” and citizens stealing tvs while having to wear gas masks as you pass by the factory that exclusively uses child-labor is just too retarded to work.The combine just making humanity sterile all the while keeping a veneer of normalcy is more believable and in a way just as dark.
>>727029026He said he was still working on it in the most recent stream. Its just low on the priority list behind skg, THE MOVIE, and Game Dungeon.
>>727030240>3650 is also very isolated in general from the Combine. He doesn't interact with Overwatch, whatever he says to other soldiers is a one way street (because he's a fully independent entity), and tonally clashes with the rest of the organizationThat's by design. He's supposed to be out of place. Its very obvious he's a temporary emergency measure that they fully intend to dispose of once they're done with him, as foreshadowed by the "you have served your purpose" line when the advisor kills the stalker. Even if the other 3650 hadn't gone rogue, they still would have wiped him once the Borealis operation was finished. As far as your issue with the metrocops goes, I think Valve already changed the lore on that with Alyx. Something I really wish they'd quit doing. You can see that even the Overwatch in Alyx are a lot more human.The rest of your points I generally agree with, but its a free mod, so they aren't an issue for me. If it were calling itself canon and making permanent changes to the Half Life canon I would cut it a lot less slack. That's why I said it was close enough and not a replacement. I got to see some of the plot points and most of the set peices from the leaked the HL3 script in video game form that's actually fun to play.
>>727035858The perpetual testing initiative takes place in a different universe from mainline Portal 2, as shown by Cave still being alive and killing the AI project. And he wasn't even stealing inventions, he was stealing test chambers specifically. Though if you keep playing the custom chambers, there's a developing plot about other Cave's having the same idea, and fighting with each other, and then it ends with him ordering you to go find a universe that's made entirely of US dollars.
>>727040387I don't care if that's the reason, I still think its a bad decision and the wrong direction for the series. Valve just decided they don't like grounded and dark science fiction some time around 2010 and they've never looked back. That's why they only do silly games now.
>>727000000FULLYMODELEDHOPE
>>727000000FUARKKK!!
>>727000000WE ARE GETTING THE FUCKING GAME LADS
>>727011706kelly was consulting the current composer when making alyx so he's definitely still in touch with valve.
>>727040759Eh the sterile thing just comes off as a cop-out to explain why there aren't any kids around by hl2's time because otherwise the game would seem depressing.I wouldn't think the Combine would really care to do that. They'd just start taking Earth's resources and the population would suffer that way, and there's still the ticking clock of "what if the combine takes all of earth's water and it can no longer support life?"
>>727000000I can't believe it's really happening
>>727000000Interesting.
>>726999313>this fat sack of shit mows down more aliens than most marines
>>727042561I know it's by design, otherwise you couldn't even have 3650 as a character, it's just a shame for those who always wanted a game were you're more integrated with the Combine and can explore interesting fanon how they operate. Well, EZU scratches that itch a bit by Overwatch punishing and rewarding you whether you take memory replacements, so hope they continue that trend in the sequel!
>>727043252It remains to be seen if it’s the direction for the series or the direction for a single game (HLA)
>>727040102wtf he's out too? What about Chuck Jones, the Duke Nukem guy?
>>727042561>You can see that even the Overwatch in Alyx are a lot more humanGood. The Combine in HL2 are a bit too devoid of personality to be interesting. The HECU beats them by a mile
>>727000000finally
>>727000000Holy shit
>>727000000>HOPIUM STATUS: ADMINISTERED
>>727048213Sounds like someone didn't listen to the radio chatter nor the breencast at Nova Prospekt.Btw, crayon eating jarhead retard isn't a compelling personality
>>727038438guarantee Casali is back at Valve. He retired in 2022.
>>726994138she is pegging him
>>727048807Still holding out for Kelly tho
>>727000000! ! Witnessed ! !
>>727011001>>727011157>>727011912Those were good chapters. The only legit boring part in HL1 is Residue Processing which people always forget about
>>727012080It's completely doable, they just need to embrace their roots
>>727050445Nah, Residue Processing was great. I would rather go through it 5 times than go once through On a Rail or Interloper
>>727000000I was here
A rebel Human instinctive BMRF scientist professor and theoretical physics doctorate was teaching a class on Gordon Freeman, known anticitizen"Before the class begins, you must get on your knees and worship Freeman and accept that he was the most opportunely timed being the world has ever known, even greater than Wallace Breen!"At this moment, a memory erased, patriotic, pro-universal union Overwatch soldier who had served 1500 tours of offworld duty and understood the necessity of the suppression field and fully supported all military decisions made by the Universal Union stood up and held up a model of a man."What's the greatest endeavor?"The arrogant professor smirked quite instinctively and smugly replied "our biological imperative and doing your part""Wrong. It's collaboration. If it is instinct, would we model ourselves on the Trilobite? Did the lungfish refuse to breathe air?"The professor was visibly shaken, and dropped his chalk and copy of Raising the Bar. He stormed out of the room crying those reactionary and fearful tears.The students applauded and all joined civil protection that day and accepted Our Benefactors as their savior. An Advisor named "Universal Union" flew into the room and perched atop the Combine emblem and shed a tear on the supply crate. Humanity's surrender was read several times, and Our Benefactors themselves showed up and enacted immortality across the species.The scientist lost his rations and was relocated the next day. He died of the preventable plague called age (when immortality is in our reach), and was tossed into a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud for all eternity.Be safe, Be aware
>>727051001>and was tossed into a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud for all eternity.Kino
>>727000000check'd
>>727000000Fuuuuuuuck
>>727039473>>stop calling me gabe>>three>>you son of a bitch im inKEK
>>727051001I shed a tear
>>727000000checked, I want to be in the screenshot!
took me decades to realize that you can see ravenholm in the water hazard skybox
>>727000000Now I truly believe
>>727000000moooommmm i wanna be on the screenshot too!!!!
>>727038438This is the 1 thing u need to see to realize its actually real, no one would come back from retirement to work on cs2 skins
>>727034872>>727034919have you played deadlock? the movement in that is seriously addictive,
>>727037850>>727037910wow, these are really good
>>727043684it's probably standard protocol to disrupt the reproductive cycle of occupied planets, it's not like they REALLY understand humans. What if we just suddenly started birthing 600 combat forms every preganancy?
>>727000000JULY 2027 BABYYYYY
Bros... it's fucking over, isn't it?
>>727056296It ain't over 'til the fat man sings
>>727000000>27>9 digit post>27÷9
>>726998396Wagie wagie get in the combine cagie
>>727000428>like when Gabe wanted Glados to have a face in Portal 2Thank fuck they stopped that fat menace
>>727057481We still saw it in Portal 2 ultimately, wonder if that was his idea
>>727000000I DOOOOO! I DOOOOOOOO!
I'm running low on hopium bros...
>>727023498>song called penultimatum https://youtu.be/SXUK_jYR-Sc?si=gXtMt1IeheFu7FZK>is in fact not within penultimatum of the seriesvalve are hacks
>>727057982our red letter day will be here soon
>>727057982december its coming 100% anon, everyone confirmed its happening this year
>>727000000Yes! YES!
>>727056398we're never getting otis, let it go
18 years of waiting. So much changed. Me, this board and life. I can't believe it's happening. Last one ride. God bless you all.
>>727056398[Muffled yodelling in the distance followed by a faint 'Threeeee!']
DECEMBER 3RD ANNOUNCEMENTYOUR SONG WE SING AND SHALL SING FOR ETERNITY. NO MATTER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS STRUGGLE.
>>727000000Message received, here's hoping the sneaky can be pulled
>>727000000Message received Patriot. ALL SCHIZOS GO
>>727000000postan in epic bread
>>727000000Witnessed. See you all at TGA, bros
>>727000000STIGGY THIS SHIT
HL3 believers are the most powerful and beautiful people there is. For hope drives men to action, such action driven by hope is power. Hopeful people are also happier which makes a person more beautiful.And while their bodies may die their hope does not, it is merely transfered and when the hope reaches critical mass, HL3 will reveal itself.
>>727063325>3 ration packs have been deposited to your union account
>>727062914Did you see half life 3 on the game awards floor comrade?
>>727063325>HL3 believers are the most powerful and beautiful people there is. For hope drives men to action, such action driven by hope is power.then i am powerless until the source2 sdk comes out so i can start making mods
>>727000000>112 replies4chan is basically just a couple hundred to a thousand chuds replying to themselves in an echo chamber You are not the majority
Thread themehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLJZnJe7KgU
>>727064108what are you even talking about retard
>>727063325cringiest shit i've ever read
>>727064139>something secret steers us>it was actually copiumpotteryhttps://youtu.be/kF_SDgq5bp0?si=8I_nGf39GNi6jajI
>>727000000Emergency Hopium reserves unsealed.Impact incoming.
Prepare for... unexpected... surprises.. hm?
we wuz slaves n shiet
>>727065445i like shephard but i can't help but associate him with retarded teenager fanfiction now
>>727064220Weak nonbeliever
>>727000000W I T N E S S E D
>>727065809this is what they would look like if the hl2 beta finished production
>>727022051and the source 2 version of hammer is even better, its legit insane what you can do with it even just in alyx/cs2
>>7270000001 MORE WEEK
>>727066789i'm listening
>>727042561>change the lorenot really, its 5+ years before hl2 and the citadel is still being built. my interpretation is that they're in the process of moving to a transhuman force in alyx but its still the "early days" compared to what we see in 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy3KBgT1dRwSoon, anons...
https://youtu.be/3blO7GiuHiE
10 TRILLION PREORDERSINSHALLAH
>>727068089this, i always thought they were less modified. it's why their armor is also bulkier and inefficient.
>>727000000Neat
>>727039782It's kinda amusing seeing these people coming back. I have never seen anything like this before, where the old devs are coming back in droves willingly to finish the job.
>>727070681It's gonna be kino if so many og devs are back
playing through HL2 for the first timehow long is this ravenholme section? its spooky
why were people so sure it was being announced this year? did some guy online say something and it was taken at face value?
>>727072384Code leak suggest they're nearing the end of the development pipeline, playtesting was conducted, lot of supposed insider grifters are claiming that Valve wants to make a 2025 announcement (probs to go with their new hardware
>>727048807The question is, why would he leave only to come right back? HLX was in active development in 2022 and I doubt he wouldn't have known about it.
>>727072574>Code leak suggest they're nearing the end of the development pipelinewhat was leaked was they added FSR support to the game, which i'm not sure means they're close to done
>>727072797that sort of feature is the kind of thing you do at the very end because it's not worth implementing on a half-finished product
>>727072945are you sure of that? that just seems like something tyler pulled out of his ass.
>>727014132>>727013945Hahaha, I do this too. Makes the im beteeen sections more fun, and the final section stupidly easy.
>>727072676Probably saw all the redditisms in HLA and came back to put a leash on it
>>727048213They make for great science fiction. Cold soulless post human automaton is a type of personality, and one that fits the setting very well.
>>727073315Casali is a level designer and he worked on Alyx, you tard.
>>727047104They did the same thing to Portal.
>>727073229In between fucking useless auto correct
>>727072797No, what datamines have found are a load of strings related to optimization, improving performance and implementing fallbacks for older systems, which indicates the game is going through an optimization pass. Unlike what some people have said, that doesn't necessarily mean the game's just about done - optimization passes happen at various points within game development, but combined with everything else, it does support the narrative that the game's coming out soon.Here's an example from one of the latest CS:GO updates, showing new console commands for particles:https://github.com/SteamDatabase/GameTracking-CS2/commit/dafe851e9691148c8b51c6af73ff41c5177bac93>cl_particle_batch_mode 0 (reference)>cl_particle_fallback_base 0 (reference)>cl_particle_fallback_multiplier 0 (reference)>cl_particle_max_count 0 (reference)>cl_particle_retire_cost 0 (reference)>cl_particle_sim_fallback_base_multiplier 0 (reference)>cl_particle_sim_fallback_threshold_ms 0 (reference)>cl_particle_simulate false (reference)>r_freezeparticles false (reference)>r_limit_particle_job_duration false (reference)>r_particle_timescale 0 (reference)>r_threaded_particle_creation false (reference)
>>727050445Residue processing is a good breather between action chapters.
>>727050640Its doable, but I have no faith that they will do it.
>>727073516>fallbacks for older systemsWhat do you mean by this? Like hardware features?
>>727054650It makes sense anyways, they want to completely replace human reproduction with combine artificial production. The only humans they want being created are the ones created by them.
i miss gets so much bros
>>727063896Doesn't Alyx already have mod support?
>>727073948source2 isn't finished and i don't have VR hardware
>>727074005There's a no VR mod for Alyx. Just base your mods off of that.
>>727000000See you next week bros!
>>727000000ITS HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!
>>727074172nta but s2 is still unfinished, according to data leaks they're adding a bunch of shit to the engine so it'll be better to wait until it releases before investing time
>>727072676Erik Wolpaw was like that too. He left for a bit then came back to Valve anyway.
>>727073758A software fallback means the game will revert back to the old implementation of a graphical feature either by detecting your hardware, or through you lowering your graphics settings. Depending on the system, this saves performance because the old implementation isn't doing as much as the new one, and thus should be doing less work on your computer. Usually. Have you ever experienced a game's performance improving because you upped the graphics settings? That happens because the lower graphics settings used a fallback code path that's actually less optimized for your hardware than the new code used at higher graphics settings. Not to say that'll happen with HLX, but that does happen with some games.
>>727038438jej
>>727000000Checked
>>727074403uhhhh sauce?
>>727074403wtf is that filename
>>727074809G-reaper
>>727056587WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCCCKKK
>>727000000WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, WOODY!?
>>727000000basado
>>727000000>>727056587HOLY SHIT
>>727056587what does the first digit mean..WHAT DOES THE FIRST DIGIT MEAN?!
>>7270762837 days
>>727074478Wolpaw left because he thought Valve wasn't really working on anything, and came back because he was basically begged to after Alyx's initial story bombed in company playtests.
>>727076341>>727074403
>>727000000KINOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhttps://youtu.be/jUplVeq5RDw
while i don't really like the writing in alyx, i really do get the excuse valve gave out for it. it would've probably been too heavy as a VR game.
>>727042561To be fair, in Alyx it's obvious that the guys with personality are new soldiers who haven't gotten brainfucked as much yet. By the time half life 2 happens the combine has solidified its army enough that there's not really that many recruits.
>>727078610It was also an overreaction to the prior story which was criticized for being dark and dull. Hopefully not having to deal with that for HLX makes the story better.
>>727000000FUCKING WITNESSEDHALF LIFE 3 WILL BE REAL
>>727000000>>727056587WITNESSED!
>>727045197>so hope they continue that trend in the sequel!the latest patch for episode 1 actually introduced a Mass Effect-style save transfer system that will let episode 2's scripting know how much breenjuice Victor drank in the first, so it absolutely will
Best track coming throughhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPqXT4dyfNY
>>727079158At least HLX won't change the entire story and tone at the last minute.
>>727000000cope
>>727006702>Ranging from least delusional to most delusional, what do you personally want from HL3?I just don't want modernity in it.Like the wacky side protagonist that accompanies you like in halo infinite, metroid, alyx, and many many current year FPS.With alyx they gave some excuse but I got the feeling they will do it again and it's gonna suck.Or ADS or yellow paint and stuff.
>>727082149>>727079158HLX isn't going to release
>>727083001fuck off
>>727000000Put me in the screencap
>>727083185Cope. HL3/HLX is never happening. HLX is either going to be another spin-off, or if it is HL3, it'll get canned.
>>727000000holy fucking witnessed
>>727000000I do now
>>727000000kino i hope hl3 releases soon...
>>727079158>>727082149I've heard this but I haven't actually seen what the story was supposed to be beforehand, so I don't know how to judge the change.
>>727084536>Darker tone with torture scenes and such>Featured major villain named Hahn who is a Combine officer hunting Eli and Alyx>No story for almost the entire game so there's a lot of dead air throughout the game>Proposed ending in the Vault involves Alyx going back in time to Black Mesa to try to stop the Resonance Cascade
>>727085206hmm, did the business lady end up in the final game?
>>727085269Yeah they repurposed her in the end. I guess she'll be another Breen-like figure, a Combine sympathizer.
>>727085206So what exactly was wrong with that tone? Most of HL2 is you traveling alone, no music and sightseeing the horrors of the combine and xen creatures. They dropped that to have sandwich jokes in your ear.
>>727085206If that's all there is to go by then it isn't much. I don't mind where Alyx is having beaten it for the first time a couple days ago, I get people not liking the comedic tone but it's less than half of the excess which Portal 2 ended up as which I think is a good sweet spot.The ending being changed from mucking with the entire bedrock of the events of the series is definitely a good thing though. You pull that rug you have nothing to stand on and have to create something entirely different. Tweaking the lead off point from Episode 2 is a much better angle in my opinion, even if I do have some issues with it.
>>727085206Don't forget that Eli was forced to be a traitor who read Combine propaganda
>>727085206>>727085873wasn't the game supposed to take place in a pocket dimension too lmao
>>727085206It sounds like Valve needs to fire their play testers.
>>727085789You're still sightseeing plenty of horrors in Alyx, and you people act like there was never any humor in Half-Life before then. Hell, I'd argue Russell is less obnoxious than Greggs and Sheckley were in EP2.
>>727085789I suppose because Valve was determined to make HLA a VR game for babies, they had to make the newcomers not feel too isolated while playing it.
>>727085789>sandwich jokes in your earthis is post campo santo buyout valve, you're going to see a lot more of this humor
>>727086068The humor in Half Life was black humor at the expensive of the characters. The joke was scientists running into gunfire while screaming about how they know everything or the soldiers in charge of the operation being too stupid to spell you're. In HL2 the joke was the brightest mind of a generation dying because he couldn't sit still, and Barney mutilating a cat with a teleporter.
>>727000000I trust the plan
>>727085789>So what exactly was wrong with that tone? Most of HL2 is you traveling alone, no music and sightseeing the horrors of the combine and xen creatures. They dropped that to have sandwich jokes in your ear.As much as I hate the meme companion, I get it for VR. When you're in the headset you cannot take microbreaks to look around your room or lay back on your chair. It's too much tension, specially being in the dark for too long. At least they did cut off Russell on certain important levels. Gonna suck if they do it for HL3 tho since it's a normal 2D game.
Hey, remember when people were going insane about a supposed HL3 announcement?Lol, what a crazy time that was.
>>727086221the microwave meal joke at the start of hl1kleiner trying to read the entire HEV suit manual in an emergencylamarrthe teleporter/lamarr joke sequencethe vortigaunt interrupting the human resistance member in the train car in Route Kanalthere's plenty of non-black humour in all of valve's games, you just want to be mad so you're choosing reasons
>>727087140>the microwave meal joke at the start of hl1That's the setup for you microwaving a headcrab to death later, is you actively antagonizing your coworkers, and is entirely optional.>kleiner trying to read the entire HEV suit manual in an emergencylamarr>the teleporter/lamarr joke sequenceThe joke is that Kleiner is a clueless old man who's not at all cut out to be part of a resistance being put in a leadership role, and that he keeps a brain raping body horror parasite as a pet and treats it like a cat. And even then its just the one scene and Kleiner fucks off until the final act of the game.
>>727086221Yes, let's forget all the quippy interactions between scientists in HL1, the humor and non-sequiturs between rebels in HL2 (Sometimes, I dream about cheese), the even greater presence of that in EP1 (like the rebels talking jugglers on Breen's show), Alyx's awkward humor in the same episode, or EP2 with Greggs and Sheckley, the sometimes humorous sayings and behavior of the Vortigaunts, and the interactions between Magnusson and others as well as his influence on the rebels and Vorts at White Forest. And very little of that was dark comedy. Humor's always been in Half-Life.Russell can be a bit annoying at times, but I've met people like him, and the rest of the game outside him is fine (other than Eli but that has nothing to do with humor), and it shuts him up when deemed important. Hell, the club sandwich speech people act like is a crime against them personally has an in-story purpose to distract Alyx while she's floundering around in pitch blackness with monsters, and it's another story beat that contrasts human life pre and post-Combine. I think the only reason this has become such a damn painpoint is because humor in media has become yet another fucking battleground in the all-consuming culture war, and exhaustion with Marvel quips got mangled and exaggerated into people whining when human beings act like anything other than grim-faced Space Marines.
>>727087934Those things are all background elements, as opposed to being shoved in your face. A big problem with modern humor is lack of subtlety. Jokes should be things you can easily miss if you aren't paying attention, not something you are forced to hear.
>>727087934>other than EliWhat's wrong with Eli in Alyx? Aside from him having a new voice actor I don't know what people would complain about, and it isn't like Valve had the power to bring back Robert Guillaume from the dead. I mean they could have tried to make another fucking game before people started dying, sure, but that can of worms is already open so what can you expect.
>straight white male protagonist gets his ass kicked and has to be saved by a half black half asian woman at the start of the game>Half-Life 2 uses Eli to push interracial marriage and procreation>cast is diverse as fuck (black man and his mixed race daughter and a white woman)>game pushes a theme of "humanity as one" in the fight against the Combine which is similar to woke messages being pushed today.Valve was pushing wokeness a decade before it hit the mainstream
>>727089149You are a tranny
>>727089149https://arch.b4k.dev/v/search/text/%22valve%20was%20pushing%20wokeness%22/
>>727089213Schizo behavior
>>727087934>(Sometimes, I dream about cheese)It's funny how you mention this one in particular, because that one HL2 black humor joke is probably a huge reason as to why people hate the HLA club sandwich speech in particular. The club sandwich speech is the exact same joke as the cheese sequitur, except way less clever and subtle.
>>727087565>>727088264shut the fuck up faggot
the club sandwich joke is a 10/10 and there's nothing wrong with russellhalf life is not grimdark and it will never be grimdark and if NPC technology had been pushed further when the first one came out it would have been funnier>>727089149good
>>727089440t.
>>727000000THE 3RD EPISODE THE 3RD EPISODE IS REAAAAAL
>>727086041The old story sounded bad, there was a narrative concept of Gman handing out business cards to literally everyone. So you’d keep meeting people with Gman business cards and the end of the game was alyx getting her own Gman business card to loop to the start of the game to prevent HLA events specifically from happening >>727086215The club sandwich bit was written before Santo was bought out as a writing exercise for Russel and only included as a character building moment for himself and Alyx as the latter wanted literally anything in her ear while she was scared. Check out the commentary that proves you wrong before talking about things that aren’t accurate.
>>727089636>half life is not grimdark and it will never be grimdark It had enough sense not to break the tension when things were dark like nova prospekt or ravenholm, there were no jokes in the tense parts.
>rumors that gta vi might get further delayed to 2027We won, didn’t we
>>727090167>The old story sounded bad, there was a narrative concept of Gman handing out business cards to literally everyone. So you’d keep meeting people with Gman business cards and the end of the game was alyx getting her own Gman business card to loop to the start of the game to prevent HLA events specifically from happeningsomeone NEEDS to make a satire mod out of this that's so fucking funny
>>727088472NTA but I feel like they miscast Eli.He sounds a lot more ghetto-like and talks really fast compared to the grandpa-like voice he had beforehttps://youtu.be/Yg3ZzBZCF1c
>>727090167>The club sandwich bit was written before Santo was bought outNot true. Campo Santo was bought out in 2018, before Rob Yescombe's story was thrown out and Erik Wolpaw and Jay Pinkerton were brought on to write a new one. But yes, the Campo Santo acqui-hire of writer Sean Vanaman had nothing to do with the club sandwich bit because that bit was written by Wolpaw and Pinkerton, not Vanaman. Idiots just latch on to Campo Santo for some stupid reason despite it only being an acqui-hire of something like 6 people into a company of 300.
>>727088472HLA brings a bit too much energy into Eli's character, through the dialogue, how he's animated, and the new voice actor's performance. He speaks a lot faster, moves a lot more energetically, barely pauses for anything he says. It contrasts heavily against Guillaume's slower, more considered performance which really sold Eli as this warm, but frail elderly man who thought before he spoke, and has been worn down by the stresses and horrors of resisting against the Combine regime and the regret of being partially responsible for the Resonance Cascade. The difference in Eli's anger in the ending of Alyx and in EP2 shows this difference most clearly. In EP2, his anger at G-Man's message and manipulation of Alyx is certainly there, but it's a controlled anger, an exhausted resignation of feeling powerless in the face of greater forces. In Alyx, it's a much more generic indignation without the nuances in the EP2 performance, and the line about killing the G-Man really just doesn't sound like him.
>>727090396Plus, half the people hired then left Valve, and those left behind seem to be worthy hires. Matt Wilde was from Campo Santo, for example, and that's the guy who designed the amazing bottle shader in Alyx and the Water shader in CS2.
>>727090591Yeah in hindsight Campo Santo hire was a plus for Valve. Sean Vanaman is still there though and while he's an ass, that Dota 2 incident should humble him.
>>727090396You’re right I got my timeline mixed up on Russel’s iteration between scripts, but I completely agree with everything else you said. >>727090324I only learned about the business card thing recently from herehttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX3kKfeLbDQ7HkBHIpIrTC2yHmN2yLRyM&si=E6ABrvr7S7YOksgoI can’t remember if it was mentioned in the 30min or 1hr long Alyx video, but the business card idea seemingly was the ending for the 2018 Playlist.
>>727090416okay but consider that>black science man finally breaks into ebonics when he's at his wit's endis kino
I want him BACK!
>>727085206>>727090167Here's the details of the old story as given in the Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx. Sounds like a terrible TV show.
>>727090684Qrd on the Vanaman situation?
>>727090354>>727090416I see what you mean, but I don't dislike Eli's new voice actor. As much as I liked Robert, he always sounded like he was on the verge of slurring all his words like he was almost too many beers in. I do agree that in whatever comes next I'd like Eli's energy/tone to get taken down closer to what his original incarnation was, but having a hightened emotive and driven delivery at the end of Alyx was the right move. The way EP2 ends is a tragic defeat that hits you in the gut and that's where we've been left all these years. To repeat that with Eli lamenting Alyx the same way would have been a dud. It's far better to have Eli finally pushing some forward momentum to lead off with to make it seem like Half-Life has some sort of a heartbeat after being dead all these years.
>>727090801jesus fucking christ
>>727090801Yeah that's pretty bad. Seeing the early occupation reign of the Combine would be interesting and some of the ideas behind the ending gimmicks have some merit but as a complete package that would have sucked.
the sounds when you crawl through vents in HL1 are so good
>>727000000>Remain calm>The Freeman endures>Half-Life 3 lives>The Mongolian Basket Weaving Forum shall endure>There is much to be done
>>727090801they gotta stop cutting the xen infestation stuff.earth is supposed to be overrun with horrible alien flora and yet the games hardly look it because it'd be "too scary"
>>727091774Did you even play Alyx?
>>727091835it's just some small part of city 17 that no one goes to.people should be having to deal with xen. there shouldn't be green forests everywhere, episode 2 should've been a road trip though red alien hell
>>727090918While playing Dota 2 Vanaman got in an argument with a teammate and then abused his status as a Valve employee to ban the guy. The guy complained, leading Valve to publicly apologize, undo the ban, reprimand Vanaman, and remove Valve employees from having access to admin privileges in Dota 2 by default.
>>727091774Alyx had plenty of Xen infestation wtf are you talking about
>>727091774i love Dark Interval's take on this concept. there's a point where you go into a cave and it's nearly indistinguishable from something you'd see on Xen.
>>727091958City 17 and it's immediate surrounding area were clear of Xen infestation (except Antlions in the sand/underground).This is why it was even chosen as a location for a City. The Combine keep such areas cleared.Anyways, it's a bit of a moot point since half of Ep2 you're fighting Antlions and headcrab zombies... which are Xen lifeforms.The Antlions even carve out entire hives out of sheer rock.
>>727000000Yes
>>727092080Anyways, i guess I'm saying that Xen life isn't like, demons from hell. They're animals from other planets that got lost in Xen at some point.
>>727091984>dota got to have its own Pendragon momentkino
>>727091958Anon, the entire reason that section of City 17 is cordoned off, aside from the Vault, is because it's overflowing with Xen flora and fauna. The reason it's not literally everywhere is because an entire division of the Combine workforce is tasked with cleaning it up, and all the biggest horror moments and locales in Alyx are about dealing with Xenfested locations and creatures.
>>727092193>Xenfestedsurely you mean infestaXen
>>727092067Dark Interval was so awesome with all that.I've been playing a mod for Half Life 2 recently that also adds bits of Xen all over the place>>727092080It does make sense that the city proper would be free of Xen, but the outlands that you drive through really shouldn't be.It'd also help paint the Combine in an interesting light: They're horrible, but they're also keeping you safe from what's out there. Just like what glados says about herself in 1, what's going on out there will make them wish they were back in city 17
>>727000000I WANT TO BELIEVE
>>727092328>but the outlands that you drive through really shouldn't be.the vista at the start of Ep2 is like 10 miles away from City 17 max. White Forest Base can be assumed to be farther out but I'm honestly unsure why you think the Combine wouldn't keep areas outside the City clear. You do know they have railways going through the wilderness right?
>>727091958if everything outside the cities was completely fucked why would you even want to fight for the rebel causethere has to be enough of the earth to save or else it all feels pointless
>>727000000HOLY CHECKEDMOM GET THE CAMERA
>>727092486i mean, you're still fighting to keep the combine from surgically altering or removing your brain and body parts to make you a slave to the Universal Union
>>727092486Because the Combine are still worse. Xen is bad, but manageable. The Combine will literally cause humanity to become extinctAnd HLX is probably going to end on some kind of bittersweet note. The Combine will be stopped, but the Earth will still forever be tainted by Xen.
>>727090801funny to think laidlaw also thought of time traveling back to black mesa
>>726994197Until Xen HL1 is indeed a much better game. HL2 really pioneered the THIS IS THE DUMB GIMMICK THIS LEVEL IS ABOUT school of design. It makes everything feel unrelated, there's no momentum to it. In the original half life the game builds and builds like it's edging you as you try to escape. With the exception of the fucking gay and awful capture sequence, Half Life 1 is amazing at building right up until you jump into the teleporter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV_nV4RyW7M>>727092670HL2 really could've used a standard shooter level. You could argue that's what Route Kanal is but you don't have any real tools to play with yet.
>>727092670Xen isn't that bad.Ok that one area at the beginning of interloper where you ride the aircraft as the controllers shoot you from above and the vortigaunts shoot you from below is pretty awful but other than that its fine. At least Xen is atmospheric>>727092705Nova Prospekt is a standard shooter area and its the best part of 2 for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GuAjojwO6E
>>727092816it still has you deal with the antlions
>>727091774Maybe the suppression field works on most xen flora too.
>>727092816it's the worst part of 2 becausea) basically none of the levels in the entire game present the player with a single interesting combat arena that isn't just some house with a ton of windows so enemies can shoot in/out anywayand b) every human and combine NPC takes a full 1.0 seconds to transition from moving to stationary and vice-versa, which means everyone can die before they can react in a way that isn't "stand and shoot"which means there's never any opportunity for anything interesting to happen in the already-uninteresting-for-combat levels
>>727090801>Trip to Black Mesa ruled outThank fucking God. HLA also ruled out the "G-Man is Gordon from the future" theory too. With that, the two lamest plot theories of the series are snuffed.
>>727093282play on hard
>>727093334>shotgun sprint and revolver peek difficultymeh
>>727000000Emergency! User hope imminent!
>>727093334>all it does is increase enemy health and damageNo thanks.I hope to god HL3's difficulty options are better.
>>727093498conversely, this lets the AI do more and makes you switch weapons a lot more
>>727093532it just lets them stand and fire for longerpretty much the only thing HL2's AI can do in its extremely-constrained levels is camp or rush your flank and it gets boring even faster on hard because of how tanky and punishing they areswitching from one bullet dump to another is just busywork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkCJ9CmPUc0i like the idea of america being covered by constant clouds of portal energy right after HL1
>>727000000Will we get half life 3 cinematic mod and a fully modeled....
>>727094101... black mesa? yes, we're going back
HL2's bland level design is because it's set in Eastern Europe. That's why Episode 2 was so much better; they had more creative freedom rather than being shackled to an ugly and poorly designed environment (basically Belgrade)>>727094071According to Mark Laidlaw, America is still experiencing portal storms during HL2
>>727000000We're all gonna make it!
You know what, I'm going to say but I fucking LOVED highway 17. I think more video games need an entire section dedicated to going on a road trip where you get to make multiple stops along the way.
>>727094994both vehicle sections are not that bad. you can skip all the exploration if you want and just drive straight to the end.
>>727094994Well good news for you then because HL3 definitely has another long vehicle segment
>>727094797>America is still experiencing portal storms during HL2How? The ones during the first game were caused by the Nihilanth, then the chaos after the first game was caused by the Nihilanth's death, then the ones during the seven hour war were caused by the combine forcing the rift between dimensions open so they could invade, but what's causing the portal storms to continue for 20 years?
Did Alyx have a secret crush on Gordon?
>>727095036I suspect people hate those levels because they feel obliged to explore and the levels only provide minor combat encounters and rather empty houses. Episode 2 made them better I think because the game made the exploration more fun with elaborate set pieces here and there (White Forest Inn, the helicopter fight).
>>727095304>secret
>>727095304>He skipped Ep. 1
i'm honestly more hyped for a potential source 2 sdk than hl3 itselfimagine the mods
>>727095671It's going to be a fucking Renaissance, and if we're lucky it may even hit the highs of the goldsrc modding scene
>>727094451A "Dead Space 2 return to Ishimura"-esque section where the Combine have transplanted Black Mesa offworld to try and recreate the slingshot experiments and you're going through cobbled together sections from Half-Life 1 would be cool.
>>727094797There's a lot you can do with a Combine-ravaged Belgrade, it's just an aestheticThe main reason HL2 is so bland with its combat levels is because it was rushed after the decision to upend the beta plot and Valve was literally about to go bankruptThat's why Ep1 and especially Ep2 are so much better
>>727096482the maps that have leaked from 1999 to 2003 were much weaker than anything that shipped. The New York iteration looked especially dry.
>>727096729Yeah but mediocre alpha maps can be worked into something great, while rushing from scratch never gives you that chance
>>727096482by the time the game leaked, it already looked a lot like what we got.
>>727096482>>727096901They didn't rush the maps from scratch, many of the maps in the final game can trace their lineage to far back in HL2's development. Hell, the 2003 leak build of the game is more or less just a really rough version of what shipped.
>>727097078there's some parts of HL2 where this is downright detrimental. you can tell anticitizen one and follow freeman have some REALLY old geometry in there
>>727097146Ravenholm's the biggest offender on that front, especially with that solid brush block that's supposed to be a minecart in the zombie tunnel.
>>727097246on the other hand, you look at Point Insertion and you can tell they made it last. hell, what leaked of it seemed to be a mockup.
>>727000000I still believe
>>727097296Yeah, it's a common developer thing to make the first level last, Valve even talks about this in the documentaries. Gotta make a good first impression.
>>727000000Witnessing this again because I just can't believeWarning: Hazardous Hopium levels detected
good thread
>>727097078Ravenholm was basically finished in 2001
Next week, trust the plan.
See you at TGA
>>727000000OH FUCK
In the meantime...this is where I get off.
