Poll: Anyone else beginning to lose patience with Valve?

[Vivi22]

Honestly, I couldn't disagree more. One of the best things about Valve is that they not only can afford to take as long as they need to to make a game as good as it possibly can be, they don't even make something unless they're really fired up about it. The problem isn't that they take too long to make games because I'd rather play games that don't suck to be honest. The real problem is that more developers and publishers either can't or won't take the time to do the same.

What actually bothers me more is the sheer number of people who complain about there being no Episode 3 yet. Sure I was kind of bothered by it, but in the time since Episode 2 came out we've gotten three great games. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Half-Life entry ends up being a full blown sequel on a completely new engine within the next few years instead of an episode 3. And I know which I'd rather have out of the two.

 

[Hamish Durie]

since i've already lost my patience,found it,lost again then refound then sold to the highest bidder im over valve and have moved onto a different game dev
was fun while it lasted

 

[ResonanceSD]

TEEEAMMMM FORRTREESSSS TWOOOOOOOOO can take up all my time. Since when did valve ever owe you anything?

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

No, but only because I don't expect anything from them. Oh they make some great games, and yeah, I tend to buy them when they come out because I feel like I'm going to receive some high quality gaming from the purchase, but...

I don't wait around for their games. I don't hold them to a standard. If they failed to make a good game (some people might word this, "if they made a bad game"), I wouldn't be horribly shocked.

If Bethesda or Insomniac let me down on the other hand. To a similar but not as great degree, Irrational Games, Bioware and what was once Free Radical, have (had) expectations of them from me. Bioware however have, for a large part, let me down at least once though.

In the spirit of the thread, I still have patience for Bioware. I have big expectations of ME3 and DA3, and will wait for both as long as they feel it's necessary to make them.

 

[viking97]

you know, i really loved every valve game i've played. that being said, i can never shake the feeling that no matter what it is i'm playing, i'm just ACTUALLY playing a half life mod. Left 4 Dead (1+2), Portal (1+2), hell, even Team Fortress (1+2), it just all feels like a mod. The games are still better than most of what i play by any other company though.

what i really don't understand is why with all their resources, and their in-house engine that they've been working with for YEARS, why it could even take them this long to release an EPISODE.

i see one possible reason for why Episode 3 is taking so long: it's going to be boxed in with (and serve as a prequel to) Half Life 3. i'm betting that they finished episode 3, felt that it didn't quite feel right to release on its own, that it lacked a cohesive story (being an episode, not a full game) and felt that in order to not shame their name, it would be better served alongside Half Life 3.

wouldn't really surprise me tbh. if you listen to the developer commentary this kind of sounds like the sort of thing their creative process would allow.

 

[Quellist]

The only good thing about Valve delaying EP3 and such was the Critical Miss comic about it.

 

[Crusader1089]

It took them 5 years to go from Halflife to Half Life 2. It then took 18 months to get Episode 1 out. It then took 18 months to get Episode 2 out. It has been four years since episode 2. So yeah. I think they're taking their sweet time about it.
If it was released next year, which seems unlikely, it would have a dev cycle as long as Half Life 2.

Do you really think it will be as radical a game as Half Life 2 was?

 

[stabbymcstabs]

To quote Shigeru Miamoto (Or however you spell his name), "A bad game that gets delayed is eventually good, but a bad game that isn't is bad forever". He said that to justify the countless delays on Ocarina of Time, which is frequently stated to be among the greatest games ever.

The people at Valve aren't lazy, they're perfectionists that have to get every little thing right. This means the game takes longer to release, but a game spends a LOT longer in the post-release period, which is what everybody will remember the best. Cut Gabe some slack, guys. Ep. 3 is coming.

Then again, slack isn't the ONLY thing Gabe needs to cut back on, the fat ba-

*ep. 3 delayed*

GODDAMMIT!

CURSE YOU WHY!

You should know the rules of Gaben!


OT: i couldnt care less how long it takes as long as i know theyre acutally doing something im fine with it, Valve has alot in its plate with all its games being constantly updated (especially TF2)so of course Ep:3 is going to take a bit longer.

Ah Gabe how long will it be until Ep:3 finally get around your huge gu-


*Episode 3 Delayed*


AH GODAMNIT I FORGOT!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABEN!

 

[TilMorrow]

You still haven't got HL2 EP3? Jeez guys how slow are you? How long has it been since valve released instructions on creating a cascading wormhole which you needed to get a copy from an alternate universe set in the year 20**. Wait... maybe the instructions for it having degraded due to a time paradox caused by the Freeman effect. In fact now that I think about it what happened to my copy?

OT: Valve can take their time making their games since not only do they always end up being good but the release schedule is great for making jokes about. And there's always TF2.

 

[Stall]

There was an article on I THINK Gamesutra that explained Valve's inner workings, and why their release schedule is so fucked. Basically, they work on whatever the fuck they want at the pace they want. There's no real meddling or forcing anyone to do a project they don't want to.

You'd have to try and find the article. It was pretty informative.

 

[dimensional]

Would not say I have lost patience with Valve they can do what they want I think a lot of their games are very good if somewhat overrated and as for episode 3 well I still havent played episode 2 yet it has been sitting on the shelf for ages, after finishing (and enjoying) episode 1 I just had no incentive to start it (make of that what you will).

Still have to buy Portal 2 as well, no rush though I should be able to pick it up cheap in a few months. From the amount of returns I have seen it dosent seem to be very long or have much replay value (like original Portal then) hopefully it will be fun though when I finally get it.

Valve may make (mostly) good games but the quality of their final product is usually not in proportion to the amount of time spent in development and as for episode 3 I just think that it will be a disappointment unless it is actually a fully developed game rather than an episode I can complete in a few hours like ep: 1 (is ep:2 longer?).

Also there is a problem with giving yourself more time, with no deadline people tend not to work as efficiently or hard. I think they may have fallen victim to parkinsons law, or they have just decided to focus there efforts on the more profitable digital hat market who knows?

 

[Jovip]

i think i'm one of the only people in the gaming community that just doesn't suck valves dick. Don't get me wrong they produce great games (except tf2 because i'm a single player type guy and that game plus the absurd fan base just never mad sense to me)

But half life and lead 4 dead portal are all good games, well made. I just never really cared for them beyond games. I cannot plausibly fathom as to why people are putting the company into such a deity like position.

So yes, i am losing patience with valve and their fans. Neither are making sense, valve needs to rewrite that old source engine already, and the fans need to move the hell on. There are more games in the world, better games in the world.

(Sorry to anyone i offended, i find valve has very aggressive fans and obsessive ones. I do not believe overt amounts of fandom are healthy so it annoys me vastly.)

 

[winter2]

You shall speak no ill of Valve.

I think it's in the bible or something..

 

[Conza]

Look i know we should allow Valve all the time to make sure all their game are of the utmost top quality, but i think i'm beginning to suffer from Valve Time fatigue syndrome. It just feels like they're dragging along with Episode 3, and I'm almost certain the Portal 2 DLC will be delayed. As well as that, they have 2 other game releases they're doing with DoTA 2 and CS:GO and that's fine, but i honestly think it's time Valve started moving towards getting a better hold of their dev cycles. I mean ok they tried this with L4D and that went down like a tonne of bricks falling on a small duck, with the whole boycott, but it's just driving me nuts at the moment.

Edit: I am in no way going apeshit or anything, nor a dig at Valve.

No you're not going 'apeshit' nor simply 'digging' Valve. If those comments were made by people here, I'd ignore their ignorance, some people don't understand that Half Life 2, the last good game Valve released, save for the Portal games, and that was released nearly 7 years ago (Nov, 2004). That's too long, especially since the engine has been used poorly on Counter Strike Source, Team Fortress 2, L4D 1 and 2, and now this new Counter Strike game, which should be on the Half Life 3 engine, which doesn't even exist!

Bloody Valve, Im sick of it, and the 200 odd people who aren't? What's the matter with you? This is way too long. Imagine if Mass Effect 3 was delayed... till 2016, You'd be fucking pissed, I know I would be. And Half Life has such short linear stories as well!

 

[ACman]

"Beginning" to lose patience? You should have spoken to me a couple of years ago. It's not even that I'm dying to play the games, it's that Valve really doesn't have the industry firepower of the Big Companies to pull this shit with "oh it'll be out next month DID WE SAY NEXT MONTH we meant next year ha ha". No, I'm not dying for Episode 3, and I'm not going to keel over without DLC for Portal 2, but I think they're still just a titch too minor league in the grand scheme of things to be spitting on their fans like this.

Spitting on their fans?

So you want Valve to pump out some dumb shlock just to appease its whiny fan-boys?

Okay smart guy how would you wrap up the Half life story? Any Ideas?

I'd rather that they take their time with it and it was awesome than have them piss away a perfectly crafted storyverse with a cliche ending and repeated action from the previous episodes; which is what you're asking for.

It's nice to be left wanting more for once.

Plus they have two totally original pieces of IP in the pipes that I can think of off-hand but no all you can do is whinge that the Half Life 2 trilogy is taking too long. Fuck off back to F3ar and Call of Duty.

 

[ethaninja]

No I don't tend to loose patience that easily. There are plenty of other games coming out to play in the mean time and what not so, I'm not at any REAL big loss. Sure, I get a little agitated when I polish off the current HL series and go, PLEEEAASE give me the next one (It's torture to end on a cliffhanger and not deliver ) But in all reality, it's not something I loose sleep over.

 

[Mikkelet]

I dunno, the thing about EP3 being late is sort of a funny meme now. I'll be good with all the other goodies out there.

 

[ACman]

Bloody Valve, Im sick of it, and the 200 odd people who aren't? What's the matter with you? This is way too long. Imagine if Mass Effect 3 was delayed... till 2016, You'd be fucking pissed, I know I would be. And Half Life has such short linear stories as well!

Actually id be hoping that they use the extra time to actually write something that wasn't poorly plotted nonsense with a giant Gears of War space robot at the end.

And that is what I think is the problem. Valve has dug itself into a massive hole in the story direction.

I think what they wanted to do is go the X-filey/Losty route and have massive cliffhangers at the end of episode to keep people tuning it. Then they realised that they'd have to think up new gameplay for each episode. And when you think about it the Half life series pretty much covers every situation in run and gun, first person shooter with physics puzzle business.

So how do they wrap this story in a satisfying and non-cliche way?

And what happend to Adrian Shepard & the Race X aliens dammit?!!! Is that all just non-canon now?