Half Life thread - Discussions about Valve's FPS magnum opus(es) and any related content (spin offs, expansions and etc)

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HL 3...is it still happening?

  • No and anyone that still thinks that it will is delusional

    Votes: 239 47.8%
  • Yes, they just need a few more years to perfect it so it can another game changer in the industry

    Votes: 133 26.6%
  • Shouldnt it be called "Two Lives and a half" instead?

    Votes: 81 16.2%
  • Half life is overrated, you neckbeard homos

    Votes: 47 9.4%

  • Total voters
    500
I'm glad the HL community at large has somewhat pushed back on this and realize that the RTX one looks like dogcrap. I like the new SMG model though.
global illumination is nice but you have to art direct for it and design the game around having it

you can't just make everything shiny and expect a graphical masterpiece
 
worked for unreal engine
it can work if you design everything around the fact that everything is shiny
but don't overdo your incredibly shiny materials or you will end up with laughable plastic pbrslop
 
Maybe the cinematic mod was the true remaster. Not going to play RTX slop unless it's actually playable without dropping the res down to 480p.
I've just watch some of the ign gameplay and it looks like those fake game trailers than indians make you know the ones "UNREAL 5 2025 NEXT GEN 4K" it lacks any of the original atmosphere and charm of the original everything is too bright and glossy, if someone really wanted to remaster hl2 it would be better to just download a high res texture pack and maybe mmod if you find the gunplay outdated.
 
I'm glad the HL community at large has somewhat pushed back on this and realize that the RTX one looks like dogcrap. I like the new SMG model though.

RTX, like VR, is a gimmick. Most of the times the improvements dont really improve anything, if anything, they are a killer against the visual style and integrity, turning it into generic "good looking" slop. Its neat to see it in action but even if that wasnt a beast on your machine, you would still go back to how it was because the devs never intended the game to look like this.

Creator of that one thing you like: *exist*
Kids: *also exist*
Creator of that one thing you like: 1742264211214.png
 
I prefer the Half Life 2 we got. It functions as almost a restart of HL1 tone-wise. It is more believable than the comical dark and gritty vibe of the beta. It is an extremely believable and detailed world they created and I'm happy they chose to keep things more subdued. It's still one of the most bleak games they've made and arguably in pc gaming. People mourning about them changing the atmosphere make no real sense. It's still a part of the game, they just wanted to make it more grounded and believable which works better. Half Life 2 would not have been as iconic as it was if Valve kept the cartoonier gritty designs that were already becoming outdated at the time. Just my two cents about the retarded "dark and gritty" spergouts I've seen the past few years. Additionally people are already making mods and projects to recapture what you want from it.
 
I'm kind of sick of unrealistic shoehorned lazy foggy lighting solutions. Can I just say that Volumetric Fog has been a fucking disaster for modern game graphics ever since the 2010s. It never looks good, and I'm tired of retards pretending it does or that it adds ambience. Silent Hill 2's (PS2) fog looks natural, Volumetric fog looks like a perpetually misty and foggy environment where it shouldn't be. Volumetric fog is just a lazy way to force lights to have shafts, but it never looks proper and has only worked in some specific instances in games. While its a meme, no bald head should shine like that. Thats the best way to describe our imitation of ray tracing. A pale imitation of actual ray tracing that still would run at 5fps without ai fuckery and temporal nonsense which causes light delay.

It is a gimmick but its also a bad compromise. You get shit image quality and a mere fraction of the power ray tracing deserves. RAY TRACING IS A MERE ESTIMATION in gaming. It is a suggestion. I argue Planar reflections are superior in almost every way, they are expensive but worth the money. Planar reflections work best with water but can also be utilized with reflective floors as well if I recall correctly.
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Why bother with ray tracing? We aren't there yet and this still looks better than a blurry and artifacting mess.
Developers are so retarded they also forgot that they can just mirror rooms to save budget but also look pretty. No, have a fucking SMUDGE and an ugly cubemap instead on a mirror....
Developers have no excuse. They exceed game budgets from even back then yet sit on their asses and mindlessly obey. Never innovating, optimizing is optional.
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They also have absurd long development cycles. Yet have less than nothing to show for compared to let's say, Spongebob Battle For Bikini Bottom, a game that was rushed so much and only had a ~10 month dev cycle yet was a very well made platformer. There has to be a case made that there is money laundering going on here.
 
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