Half-Life: Alyx - Valve's full-length flagship VR game set between HL1 and HL2

[some funny shit]

RPG Codex 2019: shilling for chinese MMO Diablo 4 and now shilling for some VR crap recommended by Doritos Pope

 

[---]

Shit, I'm not ready for this

 

[Ivan]

 

[ZVERMIX]

Shit, I'm not ready for this

I mean, you did have 15 (12) years to get ready...

Personally though, I do suspect that you're right in that Valve are just making it up as they go along.

I wonder who's writing it, since Laidlaw is gone.

 

[Dexter]

If it kills everything, well, good for ye. Maybe we'll get VR games that don't look like Trespasser.

Bruh, there are plenty of games with AA or even close to AAA Budget, you asked about relevant Shooters in VR that are being played and "play good", "Half Life: Alyx" isn't the only bigger existing or upcoming VR Only game:






I didn't think Shooters are only measured by their production quality and Call of Duty wins by default every time.

 

[Maggot]

It looks like they're reusing some concepts from the HL2 beta like the Citadel being covered in cables. Tonally though it seems more lighthearted than standard HL2.

 

[Whipped Cream]

You care about this shit story line? Why?

I used to care about it many years ago. I played the two first games at a young and impressionate age when Valve was considered the "good guy" by many gamers (like how CDPR are now, yes I'm aware that the Codex have always hated Valve). That was before they became the first western gaming company to introduce lootboxes into PC and console gaming. But I agree that, objectively speaking, the narrative in the Half-Life franchise has always been kind of terrible. E.g. how all the major resistance leaders in Eastern Europe in the second game just happen to all be former Black Mesa scientists, which is hilariously bad writing.

 

[---]

You care about this shit story line? Why?

I used to care about it many years ago. I played the two first games at a young and impressionate age when Valve was considered the "good guy" by many gamers (like how CDPR are now, yes I'm aware that the Codex have always hated Valve). That was before they became the first western gaming company to introduce lootboxes into PC and console gaming. But I agree that, objectively speaking, the narrative in the Half-Life franchise has always been kind of terrible. E.g. how all the major resistance leaders in Eastern Europe in the second game just happen to all be former Black Mesa scientists, which is hilariously bad writing.

IT is terrible, but somehow it doesn't matter, at least for me.
I find (found?) the atmosphere of Half Life 2 extremely... welcoming.

 

[Sentinel]

The Valve employees admit in the video interview with Geoff that it is not financially viable to make this game for VR only, but that they were the only ones in a position to do so because it's Valve. So they're probably not expecting 30 million sales or anything remotely close.

Yes, its pretty obvious that the reason why the're making the game is because part of the reason that so few people buy VR headsets is that VR is lacking a "killer app". And whats the ultimate exclusive killer app for a gaming device? Half-Life 3. But if they called it Half-Life 3 then more people would be annoyed that it is VR only and expectations would be even higher then they already are, so they made a Half-Life prequel spin-off instead.

Take note Epic and Google, this is how you push a platform.

They also give an hint as to why no Half-Life 3: everyone is way too scared to work on it. I think that even if Valve continues to work on the Half-Life world, a game called "Half-Life 3" is not something we'll ever see. Maybe it's for the best.

Imo after Laidlaw leaked the plot of Episode 3, it's become apparent that Valve never had an actual story arc for the series. They were just making it up as they went along.

That isn't a revelation for people who've paid attention to Valve interviews on how they designed Half-Life and Portal. I remember one guy (might've been Laidlaw) saying that they always came up with levels and design ideas first, and only wrote the story after to fit what they had.

 

[Sentinel]

Shit, I'm not ready for this

I mean, you did have 15 (12) years to get ready...

Personally though, I do suspect that you're right in that Valve are just making it up as they go along.

I wonder who's writing it, since Laidlaw is gone.

Probably Steve Jaros, Eric Walpaw and Jay Pinkerton.

 

[Whipped Cream]

After receving a "citiation needed" from Infitron on my previous post I did some research and it appears that EA's UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 game contained lootboxes (in the form of trading cards), so Valve were not the first to introduce them to western non-mobile gaming when they introduced them to TF2 in September 2010. Still, their monetization practices in recent games has been disgusting, so my point still stands.

 

[Infinitron]

After receving a "citiation needed" from Infitron on my previous post I did some research and it appears that EA's UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 game contained lootboxes (in the form of trading cards), so Valve were not the first to introduce them to western non-mobile gaming when they introduced them to TF2 in September 2010. Still, their monetization practices in recent games have been disgusting, so my point still stands.

The "citation needed" was referring to the part where you said the Codex has always hated Valve.

 

[Whipped Cream]

The "citation needed" was referring to the part where you said the Codex has always hated Valve.

Lol, the Codex reflexively shits on everything that wasn't made by Black Isle, Troika or a bunch of eastern Europeans in a garage somewhere and you know it.

 

[---]

The "citation needed" was referring to the part where you said the Codex has always hated Valve.

Lol, the Codex reflexively shits on everything that wasn't made by Black Isle, Troika or a bunch of eastern Europeans in a garage somewhere and you know it.

Bioware too.

... Ops.

 

[Egosphere]

The "citation needed" was referring to the part where you said the Codex has always hated Valve.

Lol, the Codex reflexively shits on everything that wasn't made by Black Isle, Troika or a bunch of eastern Europeans in a garage somewhere and you know it.

That's not true. It shits on all of those as well.

 

[Makabb]

Anyone thinking they are testing the ground with this for Half Life 3 ?

 

[---]

Anyone thinking they are testing the ground with this for Half Life 3 ?

The developers are basically saying it in the interview with Geoff Keighley on YT.

 

[Tehdagah]

Of course the like/dislike rate is overwhelming positive. Any other company would be accused of greediness and disrespect towards fans.

So far Valve made gamers like:
- Forced client installation on physical games
- DRM
- Lootboxes
- Paying for a license to play games rather than owning them
- Using outdated engines

And now using a flagship franchise to sell peripherals. Next: Team Fortress mobile game. Future generations will study how Valve managed to successful brainwash people.

 

[RRRrrr]

The trailer looks like it plays like shit. Also, I hated how lighthearted the trailer was.

 

[Maggot]

The trailer looks like it plays like shit. Also, I hated how lighthearted the trailer was.

It's time to accept we will never get the dark and edgy tone of the HL2 beta they will just move further away from that as more games are made.

 

[Dodo1610]

Looks cool though I doubt I will ever play it.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

One thing that's interesting is that they seen to be running this game on a new engine.
Perphaps Source 2?
Which wouldn't be surprising since Valve has said that they've wanted a new engine since what... Portal 2?
Besides Half-Life has always been their Crysis, so it's natural that the tech demo first game for their new engine would be from the HL franchise.

There's nothing inherently wrong with VR.
If the defining element of videogames is the gameplay, and one of the main aspect compromising it is the ability to interact with the game world. Then it's clear that VR is good since it gives the player a level of interactivity tradicional controls can't - which means VR can provide it's own unique experiences.

However.
VR will not replace tradicional controls because they offer something VR can't have.
And that's complex, fast movements and precision.
Fighting games, platformers and fast paced action games can't be fully translated to VR (i.e. can't make use of the VR speficic controls) and also don't benefit from it.

Still, slower games like horror titles will transition so well to VR, that there will come a point where horror games for normal platform will become uncommon.

Besisdes VR is still in it's infancy. It's experimental tech, with few worthwhile titles and overall a luxury compared to the alternatives (even to PC gaming).

lol at everyone who downplayed VR gameplay
VR is the ultimate incline. Skill ceiling goes through the roof and maximum immersion.

Nope.
Skill is videogames requires precise inputs and PC's with complex movements. Something VR lacks.
There wil never be any VR games, nor will they allow moments, like these:

 

[Valky]

Of course the like/dislike rate is overwhelming positive. Any other company would be accused of greediness and disrespect towards fans.

So far Valve made gamers like:
- Forced client installation on physical games
- DRM
- Lootboxes
- Paying for a license to play games rather than owning them
- Using outdated engines

And now using a flagship franchise to sell peripherals. Next: Team Fortress mobile game. Future generations will study how Valve managed to successful brainwash people.

I have never seen a specimen as undyingly devoted as the valvedrone.

RPG Codex 2019: shilling for chinese MMO Diablo 4 and now shilling for some VR crap recommended by Doritos Pope

You should check out the top 101 list.

 

[AscendedFlames]

The trailer was alright, I don't know if it's the passage of time, but what little interest I had in the Half-Life franchise is mostly gone. And of course they show G-Man to excite the fanboys, we can't be showing games that purely sell on the premise of how good the gameplay is, no. Just pure fanboy association, story, and whatever it is that "music" producers shit out on Fruity Loops.

 

[ADL]

And now using a flagship franchise to sell peripherals. Next: Team Fortress mobile game. Future generations will study how Valve managed to successful brainwash people.

Innovative series that is practically a tech demo in disguise from it's inception continues to innovate more at 11