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: 289 45.6%

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

    Votes: 187 29.5%

  • Shouldnt it be called "Two Lives and a half" instead?

    Votes: 101 15.9%

  • Half life is overrated, you neckbeard homos

    Votes: 57 9.0%
  • Total voters
    634
I always liked how Gordon just looks like a regular dude and not some grizzled marine cave man with a buzzcut that every FPS had in the late 2000s. Yeah I know the game predates Doom 3 which is likely the cause of that trend, but the fact HL2 remained popular throughout its lifespan while bucking that trend is oddly satisfying to me. Gordon has a very classic A-list movie star look without being over-the-top like Duke Nukem.
 
George Lucas said:
I always liked how Gordon just looks like a regular dude and not some grizzled marine cave man with a buzzcut that every FPS had in the late 2000s. Yeah I know the game predates Doom 3 which is likely the cause of that trend, but the fact HL2 remained popular throughout its lifespan while bucking that trend is oddly satisfying to me. Gordon has a very classic A-list movie star look without being over-the-top like Duke Nukem.
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Sorry for the effort post, TLDR I think Gordon's appearance betrays his background in HL1 but I think it was fixed in HL2.

I don't think Doom 3 was the root cause of the grizzled look, was Doom 3 even popular enough for that to be its legacy?

I do Gordon did take a little bit after that grizzled marine stereotype to a certain extent. I do think that was because his final model took some things from Ivan the Space Biker, and his general appearance looks somehow a bit older than 27 imo. Which is odd since Chuck Jones based Gordon's likeness off himself and he would around 21 at the time. Granted you never see Gordon's third person model in game besides multiplayer and those models aren't even 100 percent accurate to their characters (looking at Gina specifically) not that they need to be.

Even some of the promo art makes Gordon look a little bit too serious but given most of it was done by the Chuck Jones who did work for Duke Nukem and made THIS concept art I can see why that was. That being said HL2 fixed that issue since Gordon's appearance there fits way better with his background and age. Unless you think he's a combat veteran like I (only sometimes) think he is. As for HL Alyx that model was never really meant to be seen, so I don't think that it works as the true & honest portrayal of Gordon that people like to say it is. Weird how his model isn't even seen in full yet looks far better than EP2 Alyx's model.

On a somewhat related note I don't care much for how people like to prop up Freeman on the same level as Doomguy or Duke in terms of prowess. Breen said it best: "This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that—an ordinary man."

Its like people forget he has an interdimensional demi-god working to tip the scales in his favor, he'd be super dead in HL1&2 if not for the G-Man. That's not to say it isn't all on the G-Man, since EP1 and EP2 (to a lesser extent) proves that Gordon IS capable but EP1&2 are way smaller scale than HL2 or 1, he still has someone watching over him, and Gordon has almost a week of non-stop combat under his belt (possibly more)
 
One of the things I love doing in Dark Interval is stretching out the Falkenbury fight as long as possible, I just like hearing his pure butthurt seething towards Gordon Freeman for objectively defending himself and his colleagues from the HECU.

>YOU FUCKING PARASITE I'LL PURGE YOU FROM THIS CITY FOR TAKING THEIR LIVES!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE FREEMAN!!! THIS. IS. MY. WALL!!!!!
"Suffer HECUmutt. Suffer."
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JesusChristDenton said:
One of the things I love doing in Dark Interval is stretching out the Falkenbury fight as long as possible, I just like hearing his pure butthurt seething towards Gordon Freeman for objectively defending himself and his colleagues from the HECU.

>YOU FUCKING PARASITE I'LL PURGE YOU FROM THIS CITY FOR TAKING THEIR LIVES!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE FREEMAN!!! THIS. IS. MY. WALL!!!!!
"Suffer HECUmutt. Suffer."
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I did like that Faulkenbury was so butthurt over being blasted in OaR by Freeman that he ruined his military career over trying to kill him.

That said, I do think Dark Interval maybe went a little too far in trying to humanize the soldiers and metro cops.
 
Star Classic said:
I did like that Faulkenbury was so butthurt over being blasted in OaR by Freeman that he ruined his military career over trying to kill him.

That said, I do think Dark Interval maybe went a little too far in trying to humanize the soldiers and metro cops.
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I'm fine with the mod humanizing metrocops, not so much with them humanizing the soldiers who seem to be just like those from retail HL2, just with a different camouflage pattern.

The mod also showed plenty of normal citizens who were afraid of, or even borderline hostile towards Freeman. And while I suppose the former is a bit realistic the latter is more questionable.
 
Apologies for the doublepost, but I am here to administer some schizophrenic hopium:

Valve has just within the last day or two filed trademarks for the "Steam Frame", which is very likely what the official name for the Deckard will be. https://uspto.report/TM/99370857
1756960742278.webp1756960514106.webp tweet link

The Deckard is Valve's next VR Headset, and here is a rundown of rumors regarding it:
1756960839856.webp1756962204273.webp

"Okay, but what the fuck does this really have to do with Half-Life?" you may be asking. Well... gigantic grain of salt, but it looks as though a Redditor might have leaked insider knowledge of the name several hours before the trademark application was public.
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https://archive.ph/wip/8wXjB

The filing for the name was made on September 2nd, but was apparently only published later on the third, after this user made the post - at least going off the Timeline tab on the document. This has led people to believe this user may be a True & Honest insider.

This supposed insider had previously posted these, alluding to insider knowledge:
1756961027664.webp1756961881480.webp https://archive.ph/wip/uJzCw | https://archive.ph/wip/K3TM4

He claims that Valve was aiming for an announcement trailer for HLX back in July. He claims that if the game were to come out at all this year - with him very specifically claiming dates in November - then the trailer is going to be this month at the latest, and calls upon things like Mike Shapiro's promise from the start of the year. This user also has more posts regarding potential spoilers of the game, such as Valve potentially putting Gordon in stasis and/or 'retirement' by the end of the game because having a silent protagonist in [Current Year] is difficult, and also claims there is some amount of fine-tuned procedural generation to increase replayability, etc etc.

There is currently a post with 1k+ likes on the Half-Life subreddit theorizing on the potential authenticity of this alleged leaker.
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Me personally? I'm not sure how hard I'm buying this. The timing would make sense, though - Mike Shapiro specifically said "unexpected surprises" were in store for 2025, Valve promised to re-release Raising The Bar this year which we've heard nothing about since, and it would definitely make sense for Valve to tie in a huge new release like HLX with its' new hardware. Not that this would be an exclusive though, it probably would just be like a "best way to play it is with Steam Frame, but you can still play on regular monitor" gimmick.

Even if all of the above is bullshit, I still do think we'll have some kind of announcement by the end of the year. no im not delusional im not delusional im not delusional im not delusional im no
 
Been building a new gaming rig to replace my fossil so that I'm guaranteed to have a good HalfLife 3.
Imagine if it doesn't support Linux at launch though:stress:
 
Coolio55 said:
Been building a new gaming rig to replace my fossil so that I'm guaranteed to have a good HalfLife 3.
Imagine if it doesn't support Linux at launch though
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if gaben releases HL3 with a discount for anyone buying it on steamOS, will that make the valve haters seethe so much or it will make them seethe to a point they will call that anticompetitive?
 
thhrang said:
snip
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That guy said sometime in September, so it could be any day during the month.

Only dates left that make sense is the International which I doubt will happen given what happened the last time they announced a game there and the Game awards which obviously isn't this month. I still think the Raising the Bar reprint will be announced in tandem with HLX as a pre-order bonus.

If I'm not mistaken Steam Deck was trademarked the day before its reveal so I'm not expecting a HLX reveal but simply a Deckard reveal tomorrow. Although I'm actually not expecting anything, always consult the chart lads.

Always remember though: Valve always announces stuff at 1:00 PM EST, if it ain't within that 10 minute span don't count on it coming out.

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Also, sad face at all these redditors not understanding or engaging with Sopranos posting. Truly our generation is doomed.

I also wanted to say something to all of you waiting for HLX, in regards to what your should expect. I don't know if I ever said any of this in the thread so apologies if I'm just repeating myself again, but since I have both the hours and 1000 dollar receipt (God help me) for the Index put in for HL:Alyx, the most likely indicator of what the quality of HLX will be, I should do my due diligence in telling you what your standard should be:

It probably won't be as good as you think it is. That isn't all to say that it will be bad, far from it, Alyx is easily a top 3-4 game in the of one of the best franchises in the world. Easily the best VR game, I'd even say its better than HL2, maybe even HL1 depending on the day. Based on that, HLX will probably have the best gameplay in the series that's buttery smooth like nothing you've ever played. Performance wise it'll somehow run great even on jose_gonzalez_2008's laptop and still look better than any game released for the next 20 years.

But on other fronts like music I don't think it will live up. I don't think you'll find yourself listening to it the same way you would a traditional album years after you've played the game, something very few games make most people do. Its modding scene probably won't be as active or captivating as HL2's ever was. It likely won't spawn another Counter Strike or Team Fortress, but then again that has more to do with the general state of gaming. Its story will actually move the plot forward from that damned hangar that its been stuck in for almost 18 years, hopefully give us a conclusion, but I think it won't have anything that compares to that feeling of being deep within the bowels of Black Mesa, or trekking your lonely journey through the coast and seeing the remains of a world that died without you there to save it, or leading a one man (+antlion) siege on the beaches of Normandy Nova Prospekt. Will it have its amazing moments? Absolutely, given Alyx I know its sheer scale of story moments will be insane. I've yet to have a gaming experience as awe-inspiring as the vault.

I say all these things because I've seen people get really rabid over this game, or say this or that about it. I felt since I have more knowledge about what it'll probably be like, I should share what I have to say. I haven't been waiting nearly as long as some of you guys (since mid 2018 ) but I know that even these past 7 years have felt like forever. But I have no right to complain about waiting any amount of time since I still might live to see it (RIP the many fans who won't live to see that day)

Anyways, I'm tired and probably should've been asleep an hour ago. But I wanted to ramble.
TLDR expect it to be a good game, game of the decade even, but not the best. Maybe not even in the series.

Cig1.gif
 
Star Classic said:
Only dates left that make sense is the International which I doubt will happen given what happened the last time they announced a game there
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Eh, I feel like enough time has passed, and this time, they actually do have an announcement that would be a gigantic hugely-anticipated crowd-pleaser. I wouldn't entirely discount it.

Star Classic said:
I also wanted to say something to all of you waiting for HLX, in regards to what your should expect. [snip]
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With the sheer scale of the development team and all the old-guard at Valve working alongside them a whole bunch of new devs, I won't lie about the fact that I have very high expectations for them to at least match the care of the previous games. I hope there isn't an overabundance of Zoomer/Millenial writing, I hope the tone is consistent, and I hope it satisfies the fans. That's about all I could hope or ask for and honestly it should be a pretty low bar. I'm not expecting cliche shit like Gordon wielding a Portal gun, I just want quality consistency and a good story.
 
I do remember valve kind of put Geoff Keighley in a awkward position years ago pulling HL Alyx from the game awards hours before. Which took his "being the first to officially premiere" away from him, and had the 2019 game awards have a abrupt ending that felt like some big reveal was missing.

Maybe valve do something to pay him back in letting him reveal the new half life game or be the first to share offical gameplay/trailer at this year's game awards?

 
BibiLivesMatter said:
I do remember valve kind of put Geoff Keighley in a awkward position years ago pulling HL Alyx from the game awards hours before. Which took his "being the first to officially premiere" away from him, and had the 2019 game awards have a abrupt ending that felt like some big reveal was missing.

Maybe valve do something to pay him back in letting him reveal the new half life game or be the first to share offical gameplay/trailer at this year's game awards?

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Yeah, this has been talked about before. This would not surprise me in the slightest, at least assuming the alleged leaker we've been talking about on this page saying that the trailer will be this month ends up to just be bullshit.
 
Do you think valve do a teaser this month or an arg, but the bigger full reveal is down the line at something like the game awards? It would be funny if valve just did what they did with alyx and just annouce it with a tweet and saying more will be revealed in a month or so.


My memory might be wrong, but I remember alyx was revealed in a tweet and then weeks later we got a trailer?
 
BibiLivesMatter said:
Do you think valve do a teaser this month or an arg, but the bigger full reveal is down the line at something like the game awards? It would be funny if valve just did what they did with alyx and just annouce it with a tweet and saying more will be revealed in a month or so.


My memory might be wrong, but I remember alyx was revealed in a tweet and then weeks later we got a trailer?
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With Alyx the tweet was on Monday Nov 18th 2019, announcing the trailer drop of Thursday November 21st.

I don't know if Valve would ever do another ARG, but they absolutely could have stopped all of the HLX leaks from appearing in CS2/Deadlock/etc datamines for years now if they really wanted to. And obviously that's not really an "ARG", but it does the similar thing of hyping up the people who pay attention. Especially now when it's clear that it's in the very final-final stages of development.
 
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