VALVE!!!!!......STOP IT!!!!!

[Nehari]

Listen guys enough is enough, and I'm getting pretty damn sick of your dancing around. let me give this a context for a moment. The videogame company Valve is the company that developed and created the videogame Half Life and all it's associated titles such as half life blue shift, half life opposing forces, half life 2, and episodes one and two, in that order if I'm correct (don't correct me if I'm not, it's irrelevant) half life was a spectacular game, and was brilliantly fun and challenging and is the kind of title everyone should aspire to become one day. it's almost a legend at this point just because of how spectacularly amazing it and all of it's sequals were, (even though blue shift and opposing forces werent really sequals) but here inlies the issue. It's not over. >>>SPOILER<<< the rocket launched perfectly destroyed the portal, we were ready to board a helicopter to go and find the mysterious ship called the borealis which a big teaser of which was that it was owned by aperture science labratories which is the company in the other valve title Portal. but that's it. We're just left off lying on a concrete floor listening to alyx cry. which is fine because we all know that valve is not quite finished with the half life title. this however brings me to what is making me extremely angry. valve came out with the title Left4Dead probably because they liked the zombie prospect of half life so much that they wanted to play with that a little more. THEN they came out with left4dead 2 because I guess they wanted to expand that zombie playing aspect because they must've felt like they were missing pieces. NOW they're comming out with Portal 2 which is supposed to be an escape of the aperture science labratories. and NOW I find out that the've come out with a game called Vindictus which is an MMO, STOP MAKING OTHER GAMES!!!!!! HALF LIFE 3!!!! MAKE HALF LIFE 3!!!

There was a SIX YEAR gap between the conclusion of Half Life 1 (which ended on a cliffhanger of Freeman going into service for G-Man) and Half Life 2 continuing the story.

It has only JUST turned 3 years, stop being so damn impatient.

All the main story arcs of Half Life 2 have been wrapped up (mainly revolving around the Citadel, City 17 and the fallout from its destruction), the Borealis is just a teaser and sorry my impatient friend but I wouldn't be expecting a sequel till at least 2011.

Half Life 3 likely means a brand new engine, and that is likely to take a long time, probably not till Valve at least have gotten a sniff of the next gen of console hardware so they don't end up unable to perform on the new tech.

they release PC titles

True, but they are clearly also interested in console releases.

It's been years since they made a game that hasn't seen some sort of console release, and Portal 2 Gabe is pushing big time on PS3... with steamworks.

They can't ignore consoles.

actually they can, and did for a very long time, it's only because of EA that they even published Left4dead on the ps3, and I have no doubt that they'll have the same issues with any other game they want to publish for the ps3. valve made steam which sells thier games, and there is a MASSIVE pc community that buys them. as far as I'm aware DON'T QUOTE ME ON THIS, the only reason valve even published on the xbox was because microsoft kept begging them to

 

[repeating integers]

LET THE SNIP FLOOW THROUGH YOU

2) It's Half-Life 2 episode 3, not Half-Life 3. By the time that comes around, there will be 13 games set in the HL universe overall. I don't imagine Valve would milk their games to that extent, they'd be on par with Final Fantasy.

Hmm,

Half Life
Half Life Opposing Force
Half Life Blue Shift
Half Life 2
Half Life 2: Episode One
Half Life 2: Episode Two
Portal
Portal 2
Half Life 2: Episode 3

Err...
Half Life 2: lost Coast? (more a Tech demo, the game is free)
Half Life 2: Deathmatch? (surely you aren't counting that)
Half Life: Decay (hmm)

Best I can count is 9 games. How do you get 13 games in the Half Life universe?

Left 4 Dead doesn't count, no indication it's in the same universe, nor Team Fortress or Counter-strike.

OK, at the moment, there are 11 games in the HL universe, according to the mighty wikipedia:

Half-life

Half-Life: Opposing Force

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Half-Life: Decay

Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Codename: Gordon (I'll admit this is a bit of a stretch)

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

Portal

Portal 2 (Cheating perhaps, but they're in the HL universe)

By the time Half-Life 3 comes out, Valve will presumably have also released Half-Life 2 episode 3. Which will make 13 games in the universe overall.

That count dates back to a flamewar with a Halo hater. Don't ask.

Decay was annoying (and I am not sure if it is even canon). Only on PS2, only playable with split screen co-op. No one wants to play an entire split-screen campaign with an obscure Half Life spin-off on PS2. I tried playing it by myself swapping from one controller to another... of fuck.

Lost Coast should not count. It's not canon. Not sold. It is officially just a tech demo.

Codename Gordon, also is not canon. Not ever on sale. Same universe, but just a third party promotional title.

Didn't follow your Episode 3/ HL3 distinction. Well I think the next time we will play Gordon Freeman is going to be Half Life 3, Ep 2 wrapped up so much and Borealis starts so much new stuff, a final episode can't do much. Valve are not bound by law or contract, they just suggested their intent was 3 episodes. It's not like everyone paid pre-order copies for 3 episode expansions of Half Life 2.


Interestingly that leaves Halo and Half Life level pegging (3 main trilogy + ODST + Wars + Reach) for number of releases if you exclude Portal which is only incidentally related to the Half Life universe by a few side references to organisations of the same name and of course not including titles that haven't even been released let alone announced (HL2 Ep 3 or HL3).

But somehow I feel we've seen so little of the Half Life universe.

Maybe because the HL expansions were just third party add-ons retreading a lot of ground, and HL2 reached so wide it raised far more questions than it ever came close to answering, even with two additional episodes.

Halo... where else is there to go? And it seems to keep going back to the same things, sure exploring them from a different angle, but I think Reach really was THE LAST you could possible do with the universe. OK, they could adapt Halo: First Strike (especially now Halo Reach ret-conned so many parts of the Novel) to a game, but really I think 343 industries will struggle to find new and relevant game narratives.

Probably best for 343 to adapt the books. Well, can you think of another New York Times Best-Seller that would be more suited to game adaptation?

Hmm... If any of the WH40k novels by Dan Abnett got into "New York Times Best-seller" list, then I'd LOVE to see them made into games. Gaunt's Ghosts feels like it was written to be a video game.

To be honest, I think Halo should be laid to rest. Six games (including Wars) are enough, and as you said there isn't really anywhere else to go. This is why Bungie are moving on, and I feel it's why everyone else should also be moving on.

I also feel Valve should wrap up Half-Life soon, since even excluding those three games you talked about it's got quite a few. Although from what I've heard, they've left quite a lot unexplained (see, I've only played the first half of Half-Life 2 - will finish when I'm able - and to be honest I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about...), so maybe a couple more games to tie up all the loose ends. After that, let the fanbase take over (e.g. mods).

 

[Treblaine]

Hmm... If any of the WH40k novels by Dan Abnett got into "New York Times Best-seller" list, then I'd LOVE to see them made into games. Gaunt's Ghosts feels like it was written to be a video game.

To be honest, I think Halo should be laid to rest. Six games (including Wars) are enough, and as you said there isn't really anywhere else to go. This is why Bungie are moving on, and I feel it's why everyone else should also be moving on.

I also feel Valve should wrap up Half-Life soon, since even excluding those three games you talked about it's got quite a few. Although from what I've heard, they've left quite a lot unexplained (see, I've only played the first half of Half-Life 2 - will finish when I'm able - and to be honest I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about...), so maybe a couple more games to tie up all the loose ends. After that, let the fanbase take over (e.g. mods).

Well I recommend you finish or have another stab at Half Life 2, it is a game with incredibly varying pace reflecting how you are playing a civilian (rather than supremely capable Master Chief) who must develop their combat prowess before they have the confidence/competence for attacking rather than running and hiding. So if the 1st part doesn't grab you the 2nd half changes from you on-the-run to fighting back, it's a gradual shift and shows I think real development.

The thing is Half Life 3 could do the same as HL1 to HL2... set it practically in a completely different universe.

Halo, well the game covers the entire GALAXY (or was it universe) and there are no more Halos left. Every possible avenue for significant plot developments has been done. Gordon Freeman is only just having fleeting contact with The Combine and also the vanquished Xen overlords.

 

[repeating integers]

Hmm... If any of the WH40k novels by Dan Abnett got into "New York Times Best-seller" list, then I'd LOVE to see them made into games. Gaunt's Ghosts feels like it was written to be a video game.

To be honest, I think Halo should be laid to rest. Six games (including Wars) are enough, and as you said there isn't really anywhere else to go. This is why Bungie are moving on, and I feel it's why everyone else should also be moving on.

I also feel Valve should wrap up Half-Life soon, since even excluding those three games you talked about it's got quite a few. Although from what I've heard, they've left quite a lot unexplained (see, I've only played the first half of Half-Life 2 - will finish when I'm able - and to be honest I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about...), so maybe a couple more games to tie up all the loose ends. After that, let the fanbase take over (e.g. mods).

Well I recommend you finish or have another stab at Half Life 2, it is a game with incredibly varying pace reflecting how you are playing a civilian (rather than supremely capable Master Chief) who must develop their combat prowess before they have the confidence/competence for attacking rather than running and hiding. So if the 1st part doesn't grab you the 2nd half changes from you on-the-run to fighting back, it's a gradual shift and shows I think real development.

The thing is Half Life 3 could do the same as HL1 to HL2... set it practically in a completely different universe.

Halo, well the game covers the entire GALAXY (or was it universe) and there are no more Halos left. Every possible avenue for significant plot developments has been done. Gordon Freeman is only just having fleeting contact with The Combine and also the vanquished Xen overlords.

It's not that I don't want to finish it; I can't.

Basic summary of reasons:
- I received the Xbox port as a gift
- My 360 is connected to a computer monitor, which original Xbox games dislike - apart from Halo 2, they don't work at home
- My very cool grandpa got a 360 specifically so I and my brothers can play on it when we go on holiday to his house in Wales
- Said 360 is connected up to a TV
- Seeing my chance, I brought along Half-Life 2 and Halo: CE when we went there
- I managed to get to the conclusion of Ravenholm before having to go home - I've left those two games there, as they don't work at home. I'll continue and hopefully complete HL2 next time I go to Wales, but unfortunately I don't know when that will occur.

So, yeah. Convoluted and complicated reasons are annoying. What I played of HL2 was in no way bad (except the goddamn airboat), I just couldn't see why it was held up as the almighty god of all gaming past, present and future. There was some nice passive storytelling, but it really wasn't anything all that special.

 

[Treblaine]

Hmm... If any of the WH40k novels by Dan Abnett got into "New York Times Best-seller" list, then I'd LOVE to see them made into games. Gaunt's Ghosts feels like it was written to be a video game.

To be honest, I think Halo should be laid to rest. Six games (including Wars) are enough, and as you said there isn't really anywhere else to go. This is why Bungie are moving on, and I feel it's why everyone else should also be moving on.

I also feel Valve should wrap up Half-Life soon, since even excluding those three games you talked about it's got quite a few. Although from what I've heard, they've left quite a lot unexplained (see, I've only played the first half of Half-Life 2 - will finish when I'm able - and to be honest I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about...), so maybe a couple more games to tie up all the loose ends. After that, let the fanbase take over (e.g. mods).

Well I recommend you finish or have another stab at Half Life 2, it is a game with incredibly varying pace reflecting how you are playing a civilian (rather than supremely capable Master Chief) who must develop their combat prowess before they have the confidence/competence for attacking rather than running and hiding. So if the 1st part doesn't grab you the 2nd half changes from you on-the-run to fighting back, it's a gradual shift and shows I think real development.

The thing is Half Life 3 could do the same as HL1 to HL2... set it practically in a completely different universe.

Halo, well the game covers the entire GALAXY (or was it universe) and there are no more Halos left. Every possible avenue for significant plot developments has been done. Gordon Freeman is only just having fleeting contact with The Combine and also the vanquished Xen overlords.

It's not that I don't want to finish it; I can't.

Basic summary of reasons:
- I received the Xbox port as a gift
- My 360 is connected to a computer monitor, which original Xbox games dislike - apart from Halo 2, they don't work at home
- My very cool grandpa got a 360 specifically so I and my brothers can play on it when we go on holiday to his house in Wales
- Said 360 is connected up to a TV
- Seeing my chance, I brought along Half-Life 2 and Halo: CE when we went there
- I managed to get to the conclusion of Ravenholm before having to go home - I've left those two games there, as they don't work at home. I'll continue and hopefully complete HL2 next time I go to Wales, but unfortunately I don't know when that will occur.

So, yeah. Convoluted and complicated reasons are annoying. What I played of HL2 was in no way bad (except the goddamn airboat), I just couldn't see why it was held up as the almighty god of all gaming past, present and future. There was some nice passive storytelling, but it really wasn't anything all that special.

Well, Half Life 2 is really most appreciated by Jaded fans of the FPS genre, fed up of predictable and repetitive pacing that most shooters had, it would tease just enough till it got boring then totally change things around. Then back again, then in combinations.

I've been playing FPS games since the mid 90's and I have to admit Half Life 2 is always a breath of fresh air, the guys at Valve are such dedicated artists to the DEEP fundamentals of gaming. Their in-game commentary covers points that 95% of other games almost completely neglect.

Also, I'd really recommend playing it on PC. The Xbox port wasn't that great and inherently the game was designed around mouse controls, particularly the type of aiming (size + speed of enemies) and using the gravity gun. FPS genre can work on consoles but so much has to be changed and tweaked.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220/

Less than £7... and very low specifications, only a Pentium 4 and a dedicated graphics card running DirectX 9 is needed. Very modest indeed, especially considering it's a 2004 game.

 

[repeating integers]

Well, Half Life 2 is really most appreciated by Jaded fans of the FPS genre, fed up of predictable and repetitive pacing that most shooters had, it would tease just enough till it got boring then totally change things around. Then back again, then in combinations.

I've been playing FPS games since the mid 90's and I have to admit Half Life 2 is always a breath of fresh air, the guys at Valve are such dedicated artists to the DEEP fundamentals of gaming. Their in-game commentary covers points that 95% of other games almost completely neglect.

Also, I'd really recommend playing it on PC. The Xbox port wasn't that great and inherently the game was designed around mouse controls, particularly the type of aiming (size + speed of enemies) and using the gravity gun. FPS genre can work on consoles but so much has to be changed and tweaked.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220/

Less than £7... and very low specifications, only a Pentium 4 and a dedicated graphics card running DirectX 9 is needed. Very modest indeed, especially considering it's a 2004 game.

Well personally I found the game to be a bit more repetitive than most shooters, what with the tiny enemy variety in the first few levels (hell, even Ravenholm had only 6 enemy types or so, excluding the one barnacle in the flooded mining shaft). It was still fun, largely due to some of the physics puzzles which I quite liked keeping you thinking, but the combat wasn't anything special. I could plainly see the scripting and linearity, which didn't much appeal to me.

As for the PC... I highly doubt it'd run on my machine. It's an ex-server which is unable to handle any graphics card other than its inbuilt one, which is frankly rubbish. Homeworld, a game from 1999 works, and that's about it. Tribes 2 doesn't and Minecraft doesn't - the former is older than Half-Life 2 and the latter has terrible graphics which should by all rights run on anything.

 

[TheComedown]

what with the tiny enemy variety in the first few levels (hell, even Ravenholm had only 6 enemy types or so, excluding the one barnacle in the flooded mining shaft).

holy shit 7 enemy types, that's about 5-6 more then the rest of your average shooters, Seriously what shooters do you play that have more then 1-2 different type of dude? 1 dude wearing a grey hat and another dude wearing a green hat don't count as different varieties, they are both dudes wearing hats.

 

[repeating integers]

what with the tiny enemy variety in the first few levels (hell, even Ravenholm had only 6 enemy types or so, excluding the one barnacle in the flooded mining shaft).

holy shit 7 enemy types, that's about 5-6 more then the rest of your average shooters, Seriously what shooters do you play that have more then 1-2 different type of dude? 1 dude wearing a grey hat and another dude wearing a green hat don't count as different varieties, they are both dudes wearing hats.

Well first of all, let me assert that the small enemy variety didn't break the game for me or anything. Ravenholm still managed to be terrifying even with only 3 kinds of headcrabs and their corresponding zombies.

Secondly, 1-2 types of dude with 1 guy wearing a different coloured hat is pretty much chapter 3 of Half-life 2 summarised. You fight Metrocops and damn-near only Metrocops. For variety, these sometimes carry SMGs instead of pistols. Then there's the odd barnacle.

Chapter 4 introduces the odd headcrab, and you get to kill a Hunter-Chopper. Other than that, your enemies are the same.

Thirdly, the only other FPS I really play is Halo. So let's count, using Reach as an example.

Normal enemies:
Grunts
Jackals
Skirmishers
Drones
Elites
Brutes
Hunters

And all the different ranks, which often fight differently (for example, Jackal Snipers and Shield Jackals are very different kinds of enemy).

Vehicles:
Ghosts
Revenants
Spirit dropships
Phantom dropships
Banshees
Wraiths
Shade turrets
Fuel-rod turrets (unsure of technical name)
Seraphs (if you want to include the space combat section)

If you want a fairer comparison, let's look at Halo 2, which came out in the same year.

Normal enemies:
Grunts
Jackals
Drones
Elites
Brutes
Hunters
Flood Combat Forms
Flood Infection Forms
Sentinels
Hell, we could even include human Marines, which can be fought as the Arbiter if you're clever enough at manipulating physics.

And all corresponding ranks, which often fight differently (particularly Sentinels and Sentinel Majors).

Vehicles:
Ghosts
Spectres
Shadows
Phantom Dropships
Banshees
Wraiths
Scorpion Tanks
Warthogs
Enforcers

Bosses:
Elite heretic leader WITH JETPACK!
High Prophet of Regret
Tartarus, High Chieftain of the Brutes

In addition, you encounter these scattered about the campaign. You don't have to wait for the Sorting Algorithm of Evil, as TVtropes calls it, to give you the more powerful enemies to fight.

...You catch my drift?

 

[TheComedown]

Secondly, 1-2 types of dude with 1 guy wearing a diffterent coloured hat is pretty much chapter 3 of Half-life 2 summarised.

Wait so because HL2 doesn't throw every enemy type at you from the get go, its all of a sudden a worse game? From almost every aspect it makes more sense to have them slowly introduced, from a story point, it helps the game progress, as a tutorial it helps you introduce you to new creatures and lets you learn new strategies it helps with pacing and also can be used to create more varied and different experience by modifying the enemies behavior to different environments (antlions)

-halo ass kissing-

Wow 9 different bad guys to kill that's so much more then 7, wait a minute, planet Half-life lists 22 different enemies well 18 once you take turrets and hopper mines and such out of the list.

Anyway you say you play basicly one FPS and we are supposed to buy this

Well personally I found the game to be a bit more repetitive than most shooters

Halo is not most other shooters it's just another shooter, you are comparing Half-life to a whole genre, but the extent of your knowledge of that genre seems to come from just one game. This is a stupid way to judge a game and a genre, it's also a stupid way to put together an argument.

 

[repeating integers]

As odd as it feels to be doing this just after a guy accused me of rampant HL2 bashing, I may as well respond to this whole debate thing.

Wait so because HL2 doesn't throw every enemy type at you from the get go, its all of a sudden a worse game? From almost every aspect it makes more sense to have them slowly introduced, from a story point, it helps the game progress, as a tutorial it helps you introduce you to new creatures and lets you learn new strategies it helps with pacing and also can be used to create more varied and different experience by modifying the enemies behavior to different environments (antlions)

I feel we shouldn't debate too much about this particular point because it's like comparing apples to oranges. Half-Life 2's use of the Sorting Algorithm of Evil is kind of necessary, due to the way it hands out weapons to you (starting off with the weaker ones, then building up to more powerful ones). Meanwhile, Halo lets you pick up a variety of weapons in each level. It's a different style of game design, it's hard to compare them - though I will go on record as saying I prefer the latter method. Also I didn't get to the Antlions, I had to stop at the conclusion of Ravenholm for reasons that, as I have to repeatedly explain, are complicated. I'll finish it... sometime...

Wow 9 different bad guys to kill that's so much more then 7, wait a minute, planet Half-life lists 22 different enemies well 18 once you take turrets and hopper mines and such out of the list.

First of all, if we're referring to Halo 2, the number you're looking for is in fact 21 including bosses. Secondly, could I get a link to that source?

Anyway you say you play basicly one FPS and we are supposed to buy this

Well personally I found the game to be a bit more repetitive than most shooters

Halo is not most other shooters it's just another shooter, you are comparing Half-life to a whole genre, but the extent of your knowledge of that genre seems to come from just one game. This is a stupid way to judge a game and a genre, it's also a stupid way to put together an argument.

I will give you this one, because I stupidly wrote something down without thinking about it properly. Though if it helps, I play the Mass Effect games often (which are TPS games along with being RPGs) and find them less repetitive than HL2. Slightly.

What I should have said was "Well personally I found the game to be a bit more repetitive than Halo".

Happy?