Poll: Is Valve becoming worse over time?

[Bobzer77]

?1 ≠ $1

If they fix that valve will have my love again.

But to be honest absolute power corrupts absolutely even for valve. As they move closer to a monopoly they're going to get worse.

 

[gmer412]

I don't think Valve is getting worse at all. I realize now that they have only one project that they have announced that they are working on (Portal 2), but their quality has certainly not gone down. They just work differently from a PR standpoint than other companies do.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

6. Team Fortress 2. I haven't played much of this, since I never really got into it, so I won't bother complaining about updates or lack thereof.

But you'll still use it as an excuse why Valve are TEH DEBIL!

Seriously, does anyone rag on Media Molecule for producing one game for one platform?
Has Rockstar got this much hate for ignoring or badly porting games to the PC?

In my opinion they can't get any worse.

Do you have any evidence for that, or is that an opinion based on personal dislike?

I'm sorry to be intruding here, but please notice the bolded parts.
That actually made me chuckle. Hilarious!

Why? Opinions can be susbstantiated ("I hate the French because they talk funny") or insubstantiated ("I hate the French because they all smell of garlic"). Big difference.[sub]Corollary: I'm part French[/sub]

What I've heard so far is that people don't like Valve because they produce excellent games, have a rabid fanbase and like to concentrate on what they're good at? Can someone at least provide me with a problem that can't be applied to any other company?

 

[Rarhnor]

I have to disagree with you on your points for a number of reasons. While L4D2 had the same core concepts of L4D, it added many more things which fans in particular would have wanted to see, for example: melee weapons and realism mode (two things which keep me fascinated for hours in the game).

But that only qualifies it as an expansion-pack, really. Not a lot of changes for a series that is already repetitive. "Don't fix what isn't broke" comes off quite cowardly.
Take the Gears of War games. The concept of the game (3rd person shooter) isn't original, but EPIC changed the overall feel, atmosspere and interactive enviroment (excluding new modes, weapon additions, new enemies and enviroment makeovers).
Experimenting once in a while doesn't hurt, valve should adapt to this, especially when they are dealing with repetitive gameplay.

 

[Pegghead]

Well since when have they announced left 4 dead 3 and 4?

Honestly I've found Valve titles to be consistently good, even when the material they're working with is a bit un-original or leaves little room for creativity (I.e the zombie apocalypse) they can pull it off to be fresh and clever.

 

[Radeonx]

Half Life: Good.
Half Life 2: The most boring piece of average I have ever played.
TF2: Fairly good.
L4D: Decent.
L4D2: On the high end of decent.
(I don't count Portal as them, cause all they really did was throw money at a separate team that was already making the game before they got involved. I never played TF1, and I don't count CS as a Valve game cause a third party made it as a mod, not Valve.)
They are sort of rollercoasterey.
It's evident that their fanbase isn't particularly concerned with their quality however.

In my opinion, Valve's games are treated as golden based on their release, due to Half Life's semi-revolutionary FPS type. Not many games had stories before that, which is why it's treated so greatly. And because of all the love it got, it must mean that every other game made by the same company is godlike, because of a pretty good, yet semi-overrated game that came out 12 years ago.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Their games are of the highest quality as ever but their development choices and release times... not so much.

 

[scnj]

Seriously, does anyone rag on Media Molecule for producing one game for one platform?

I rag on Media Molecule for making a glorified toolkit and releasing it as a game. Does that count?

 

[Snotnarok]

What other company supports their games years after it's out?

Well L4D aside, that made me want to spit blood. TF2 like support my ass, they didn't give the game 5 minutes of their time after they put it out.

 

[oliveira8]

TF2 like support my ass, they didn't give the game 5 minutes of their time after they put it out.

Over 120 updates not enough for TF2? And correct me wrong isn't new DLC coming out for L4D?

 

[EBHughsThe1st]

Just becoming unlikable.
I like Portal for free, but for god's sake, what is the surprise at E3?!
It isn't HL2E3.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I am yet to find a single thing to criticise Valve for negatively.

I'll state a few then:

Lack of costumer support and generally no communication when it comes to it.
It sucks when a game like Sam & Max is released 2 days late on Steam because of a bloody Mac thing and there is absolutely no word from Steam/Valve. Just an example.

New TF2 menu sucks ass.
Seriously, it does.

Hats and crafting.
It detracts from the game and devides the player base. Just go to the Steam forums and have a look. It almost feels like a bloody MMO at times with all the grinding and collecting. Bah!

New Steam UI
I don't really like it, though I concede that it's a matter of taste. I find it annoying to navigate and it is less functional.

Lame pricing on Steam. 1? is not 1$.

And finally: lack of Episode 3.

Disclaimer: I am a bit of a Valve fanboy and own all their games. I'd be hard pressed to find better games. I'm replaying HL2 right now and I'll say that it's still as amazing. The overall design of that game blows almost anything else out of the water.
I still have some issues with them though.

 

[Tinneh]

Without Half Life 2 episode 3 anywhere in sight

Can someone tell me why everyone gets so worked up over the Half Life series? IMO It's not even particularly good, I much preferred Portal, and TF2 is brilliant. Even L4D1 and 2, while they eventually get boring, give more satisfaction.
I would be happy if they released a small game tying up all the loose HL ends, and moved on to something like TF3, or made a new series.

We don't need TF3, TF2 is fine. I would love a new IP though, maybe another take on the puzzle genre, although they'd have to make sure it's not a Portal clone.

 

[Weaver]

The consoles can't get TF2 updates because MS and Sony won't allow them to distribute freely on their networks anymore.

 

[Susano]

Without Half Life 2 episode 3 anywhere in sight

Can someone tell me why everyone gets so worked up over the Half Life series? IMO It's not even particularly good, I much preferred Portal, and TF2 is brilliant. Even L4D1 and 2, while they eventually get boring, give more satisfaction.
I would be happy if they released a small game tying up all the loose HL ends, and moved on to something like TF3, or made a new series.

We don't need TF3, TF2 is fine. I would love a new IP though, maybe another take on the puzzle genre, although they'd have to make sure it's not a Portal clone.

TF2 RTS! =D
Seriously, I think they should stick to what they know, FPSes. They can have puzzle elements in those FPSs, but they seem to be good at them.

 

[Ren3004]

Wait, how would people play Half-Life without their right arm?

 

[Brnin8]

Im not saying I hate Valve.I love Valve as much as the next guy.More so Infact.But as I said in my starting paragraph, they are many things things to there name that isn't finished.

I find your lack of faith disturbing...
No, they're games are still great and have never disappointed me.

 

[Warmoon]

This thread is just...wow just wow.

Valve have given away free DLC over the years, still update and take care of TF2 for the world and produce the Left 4 Dead Franchise, Half-Life, and Portal and you think there losing their touch of minor things such as Episode 3 taking a while. I dont care how long it takes for the next half life, as long as it rocks and the L4D franchise is great and with portal 2, Valve have proven that there to be trusted in the long run and it will be great. I mean look at the break from half life 1 to 2, pretty long time huh? But it was worth every little second and more in my opinion.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Why would I feel that? They continue to make great games. I loved Portal. I loved TF2. I loved Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Sure, Half-Life was a great game, but I would love the other games they have released. They can take their time with Half Life 2:Episode 3. It's just nice to know that they make games for the fans that love their games in general not just for Half Life fanatics.