Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is rumored not to be coming in 2010

skeletonframes wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Scratched wrote:

HL3 to take place on a staircase: http://totalgamingnetwork.com/conten...

Ugh! I still have nightmares about the staircase in Metal Gear Solid.

I have nightmares about every staircase in every Grand Theft Auto game. That point in which you lose sense of direction and it becomes a maelstrom of metal and stone, twisting you back whence you came just to twirl you round again, is truly horrifying.

Oh I tended to go down those strafing sideways and backwards so I didn't have to turn.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Scratched wrote:
kyrieee wrote:

I want more HL gameplay too but I'm not even sure what kind of HL game Valve would make at this point. It wouldn't surprise me if that game is something I'm not interested in. The last Valve game that I really enjoyed was probably EP2. I'm not really a fan of the direction they've taken with their game design and business models.

Yes, it's something that's becoming more and more obvious with Valve games as time goes by, they have a reputation for polishing, but pretty much everything after HL2 seems like they're polishing out a fair bit of character when taking out irritations.

I suppose the best example is Portal2, where there wasn't as many options for portal placement, clever lighting and level design tricks to guide you to the solution, it takes something away if you're being herded too much. While I don't agree with the extent some people had a problem with it (Portal 1 wasn't that unguided), I can see the pattern. I can appreciate what they're doing, trying to add a layer of guidance onto the game without breaking immersion (GPS, arrows, etc), but after a while it feels too slick.

I don't always agree with Scratched, but when I do, it's about this.

Yup, yup, yup, yup....

UUUUURRF!

Yup, yup!

Spoiler:

Feel I have to put this in, just in case!. It means I agree.

I'd quite like to play HL3/HL2: Ep3 mainly because Ep 2 was pretty perfect, IMO. HL2 was too protracted and had good and poor bits. HL1 was better overall, again IMO, in pacing and plot development. HL2:Ep1 was okay but lacked something (been too long since I played it so I can't remember what, exactly!).

I hope Valve kept their craft going and didn't do a Portal 2 (Portal 1 was far superior in every way for my tastes and 2 just dragged and felt unoriginal...) with whatever (if they ever) they follow up HL2:Ep2 with.

I also dislike TF2 (and I wouldn't think about the time difference between TFC and TF2 since there was a period when it wasn't Valve-owned) and the LFD2 debacle...

How can there be a HL3 without a HL2:EP3? They can't just leave us hanging? can they?

Half-Life 3: Barney's Story.

How did beloved Black Mesa security guard Barney (whateverhislastnameis) get from Blue Shift to infiltrating Combine Civil Protection? Find out in an epic story of adventure and daring that promises to upset everybody everywhere because they have to play this instead of finding out what happens to Gordon Freeman.

gains wrote:

Half-Life 3: Barney's Story.

How did beloved Black Mesa security guard Barney (whateverhislastnameis) get from Blue Shift to infiltrating Combine Civil Protection? Find out in an epic story of adventure and daring that promises to upset everybody everywhere because they have to play this instead of finding out what happens to Gordon Freeman.

More like: how did he go from private security and end up in the worst job in the world surrounded by look-a-likes hired by a maniacal boss who demands everyone turn up at the bar after work - no matter what they've got on their plate!

TheGameguru wrote:

How can there be a HL3 without a HL2:EP3? They can't just leave us hanging? can they?

HL3 is...HL2:EP3?

Ulairi wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

How can there be a HL3 without a HL2:EP3? They can't just leave us hanging? can they?

HL3 is...HL2:EP3?

*Inception PWANG here*

When/If released it won't be the end all of games. However, it'll be pretty damned good- it's what Valve does (a well-earned reputation). Lacking any excitement for it is bonzoo to me, put to each their own.

It will most likely still be Ep.3, or something similar. In the few interviews Gabe's done, he's always called it Ep.3, and if someone says Half-Life 3, he corrects them.

I just hope it retains a single player campaign/offline option. That quote by what's-his-face about Portal 2 being Valve's last single player game still chills me... to this... very.. dayyyyyyy! (I may have been listening to too much Dead Milkmen lately.) I know it was taken out of context, butchered, twisted, and all that other jazz, and Gabe went on record correcting the misconception, but still, I wonder. It's always made me think of a situation where an employee goes on record to say "Hmm.. I wonder what human flesh tastes like? I bet it's tasty." only to have other employees/higher-ups scrambling to clarify that their company would never, under any circumstances, kill and eat people, or even nibble on dead ones.

Whatever the case, I still hope that we can team up with Gordon Lightfoot at some point; I think that's a team that could get things done.

All good-time yuks aside, I'm seriously hoping for something like Ravenholm in Ep 3. That was one of my favorite areas; just the sheer hopelessness of the whole place. Good stuff.

cyrax wrote:

It will most likely still be Ep.3, or something similar. In the few interviews Gabe's done, he's always called it Ep.3, and if someone says Half-Life 3, he corrects them.

I thought Gabe said that it this point, a new release would be called HL3. I feel like I've seen that in multiple places.

Could be something very recent I haven't seen. Always heard otherwise, and in an interview with Podcast 17 a few months ago he was asked directly about it. He didn't answer directly, but in round-a-bout PR speak did confirm it's still Ep.3 internally.

I'm calling Alex co-op, and I won't like it. Can we just a get a solid single player experience anymore?

PoderOmega wrote:

I'm calling Alex co-op, and I won't like it. Can we just a get a solid single player experience anymore?

Not if the cannibals have anything to say about it!

Puce Moose wrote:

All good-time yuks aside, I'm seriously hoping for something like Ravenholm in Ep 3. That was one of my favorite areas; just the sheer hopelessness of the whole place. Good stuff.

That's the old passage to Ravenholm.
...
We don't go there anymore.

Seriously though, I would not be upset at more areas like Ravenholm (and maybe less like Nova Prospekt).

I'd love a reboot of HL:DM; more toilets!

Tyrian wrote:
Puce Moose wrote:

All good-time yuks aside, I'm seriously hoping for something like Ravenholm in Ep 3. That was one of my favorite areas; just the sheer hopelessness of the whole place. Good stuff.

That's the old passage to Ravenholm.
...
We don't go there anymore.

Seriously though, I would not be upset at more areas like Ravenholm (and maybe less like Nova Prospekt).

And fewer like Route Kanal. And Sandtraps.

You know, for one of my most favouritest games, it sure had a not insignificant amount of tedium.

I try to replay Half-Life 2 and the episodes every year.

I'm legitimately anticipating another Half-Life.

Gravey wrote:
Tyrian wrote:
Puce Moose wrote:

All good-time yuks aside, I'm seriously hoping for something like Ravenholm in Ep 3. That was one of my favorite areas; just the sheer hopelessness of the whole place. Good stuff.

That's the old passage to Ravenholm.
...
We don't go there anymore.

Seriously though, I would not be upset at more areas like Ravenholm (and maybe less like Nova Prospekt).

And fewer like Route Kanal. And Sandtraps.

You know, for one of my most favouritest games, it sure had a not insignificant amount of tedium.

If we're going over HL2's greatest hits, I'd nominate the approach to Nova Prospekt, and most of inside, starting from just after you get the pheropod. It has a really good infiltration, and overwhelming the outlying guards, sneaking inside and then kicking the combine asses, and two gunships (which I think is more than you've faced at that point, possibly preparing you for the assault on the town hall/nexus). Great music during that section too.

I always feel like I'm in an alternate dimension when people talk about moments in Half-Life 2. I play it about once every two years as well, and it never changes my opinion that Route Kanal is my favourite section and Ravenholm is the worst by a gigantic margin. It's just a really poorly laid out level.

kuddles wrote:

I always feel like I'm in an alternate dimension when people talk about moments in Half-Life 2. I play it about once every two years as well, and it never changes my opinion that Route Kanal is my favourite section and Ravenholm is the worst by a gigantic margin. It's just a really poorly laid out level.

I remember getting lost several times going through it, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and tone of the area.

Half Life 2 is simply from a different era of first-person-shooter, single-player game. I'm thinking most of you folks are forgetting that, and forgetting the common tedium that came with them.

Nevertheless, I can say that I'm legitimately anticipating any extension of the Half Life universe, be it Episode 3, or HL3. I am also one of those who makes an effort to have an annual replay of HL2. I have only done the episodes once, though. I should try all of them in succession. Then again, I'm not looking forward to the Strider sequence at the end of Ep2 again...

NSMike wrote:

Half Life 2 is simply from a different era of first-person-shooter, single-player game. I'm thinking most of you folks are forgetting that, and forgetting the common tedium that came with them.

It's not just that, it's whole conventions. Gone are games where you can carry so many weapons. Everyone expects most weapons to have a aiming down sights mode. I'd say HL has more in common with DooM than most modern shooters. Every character has to be fleshed out and have feelings (feelings? look mate, you know what has feelings, blokes what bludgeon their wife to death with a golf trophy), while Gordon remains a mute cypher.

If anything I kind of admire them sticking to their ways with HL, it's good that they've stayed with the spirit of the original, but I hope that if they want to make changes, it's within a new game with a new everything. Make HL all it can be, and make that something else all it can be too, but my view is that HL is 'defined' now, and doesn't need changing.

Okay, so the game is finished but Valve are in a legal battle with the copyright holders of Manos: The Hands of Fate because the big twist ending was going to be the reveal that G-Man is actually Torgo. Because they have the same speech pattern.

That is the complete fabrication that I have decided is a credible rumor that some anonymous industry insider let slip in a hurriedly deleted tweet. You heard it here first.

NSMike wrote:

Half Life 2 is simply from a different era of first-person-shooter, single-player game. I'm thinking most of you folks are forgetting that, and forgetting the common tedium that came with them.

Yeah, it's funny to think about, but every single Modern Warfare game has been released since Half Life 2: Episode 2 came out, for example. We'll be coming up to the 5th birthday of Ep.2 in a couple of months.

Redwing wrote:
NSMike wrote:

Half Life 2 is simply from a different era of first-person-shooter, single-player game. I'm thinking most of you folks are forgetting that, and forgetting the common tedium that came with them.

Yeah, it's funny to think about, but every single Modern Warfare game has been released since Half Life 2: Episode 2 came out, for example. We'll be coming up to the 5th birthday of Ep.2 in a couple of months. :)

That actually cheers me up a bit, as five years doesn't seem so bad. Too frequently I'll look up something I thought was 4-5 years old and find out it's 9-12 years old.

Redwing wrote:

Yeah, it's funny to think about, but every single Modern Warfare game has been released since Half Life 2: Episode 2 came out, for example. We'll be coming up to the 5th birthday of Ep.2 in a couple of months. :)

I think I've said before, the only reason I'd personally say the next HL is 'late' is down to the story, that they established bits (Mossman's message) that were to be concluded and haven't concluded them yet. Even then you could draw the line under ep2 at a push and it's okay.

Besides that, of course I want more games that play like HL, but it's not as though there's a schedule they're missing, or a contract signed in blood they're breaking. Their output of at least one game in each of those 5 years since the orange box release, plus expanding/maintaining the ones they've released (remember when TF2 only had 6 maps? It now has more than 10 times that) puts them well ahead of any other studio I can think of.

Jeez-- I don't think I've even played TF2 since it only had 6 maps...

Scratched wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Yeah, it's funny to think about, but every single Modern Warfare game has been released since Half Life 2: Episode 2 came out, for example. We'll be coming up to the 5th birthday of Ep.2 in a couple of months. :)

I think I've said before, the only reason I'd personally say the next HL is 'late' is down to the story, that they established bits (Mossman's message) that were to be concluded and haven't concluded them yet. Even then you could draw the line under ep2 at a push and it's okay.

Besides that, of course I want more games that play like HL, but it's not as though there's a schedule they're missing, or a contract signed in blood they're breaking. Their output of at least one game in each of those 5 years since the orange box release, plus expanding/maintaining the ones they've released (remember when TF2 only had 6 maps? It now has more than 10 times that) puts them well ahead of any other studio I can think of.

I thought there was some form of casual reference to episodes coming out faster, like saying "one a year" or something of that nature. While they never announced a release date , there was definitely implication and they've gone way past that implication.

I think they were initially going for every three months. See Valve Time.