They don't need to "finish" the series, or answer all the questions. They can keep the mysteries going, but still cap off the city 17 stuff and move Gordon on to new adventures, or even just suggest that he will.
Black Mesa v1.0
- Thread starter Dungeoncrawler
- Start date
They don't need to "finish" the series, or answer all the questions. They can keep the mysteries going, but still cap off the city 17 stuff and move Gordon on to new adventures, or even just suggest that he will.
I don't know about that. What's going to tank credibility harder - promising fans (their source of income) a game and not only not delivering, but ignoring God knows how many requests for reasons why?
Or delivering a game that "might" not live up to the previously set standard?
I'm not even a huge HL2 fan (HL1 yes) but that move...it's left me wondering why fans allowed them to survive as a viable company. They straight up lied and ignored any attempts to discuss it afterward. Valve will always be a garbage company in my book after that.
Alyx is the Much better character. By a lot.
twonha
Well-known member
I feel better about having played and finished Duke Nukem Forever after years of hype, development hell, limbo and a shitty release, than I do about pining over Half-Life 3 over the last fourteen years. I adore the Half-Life series, but I really, really want Valve to get over their teenage anxiety and finish the damn story.
I've never understood what they're so afraid of. If it turns out a bad game, release it and be done with it. There is absolutely no need for Half-Life 3 to be another stroke of genius.
I've never understood what they're so afraid of. If it turns out a bad game, release it and be done with it. There is absolutely no need for Half-Life 3 to be another stroke of genius.
twonha
Well-known member
By the time any Half-Life sequel is released, HL2 is about 20 years old. I don't think it should matter much what Half-Life players remember, they're going to need a reminder of wtf was going on in that universe anyway.
JohnnyFlash
Professional Lurker
Valve did say that it would eventually come out as a standard game.
No, they predicted that modders would make it playable in 2d.
And you would not want to play the game like that, kb+mouse would trivialize every combat encounter, making the game kind of boring.
But that is like the entirety of Half Life series.
Laidlaw was "heavily consulted" for Alyx, so apparently he's still providing a bit of vision/guidance for where ever they're going to go with the story, if they ever do. It would be nice if they could keep it consistent between episodes.
Drexion
Well-known member
You don't always need a fully complete story for a satisfactory or entertaining product. For example 'The Empire Strikes Back (1980)' ended on a cliffhanger without closure on any of its storylines. And it's considered one of the best films ever made, and also regarded as one of the very few sequels that outdid a highly regarded original.
If the journey you go through with the characters, story, plot etc is substantial, then "ended on a cliffhanger" or "incomplete" should not be enough of a drawback to prevent your enjoyment from the entire experience.
Obviously everyone's thoughts on this will vary, but HL without an ending is still a world class experience. (at least judged in the period when it was released).
If the journey you go through with the characters, story, plot etc is substantial, then "ended on a cliffhanger" or "incomplete" should not be enough of a drawback to prevent your enjoyment from the entire experience.
Obviously everyone's thoughts on this will vary, but HL without an ending is still a world class experience. (at least judged in the period when it was released).
EP 2 had an ending right out of one of those found footage horror movies though, I don't really think it is comparable to the ending of empire strikes back.
The original HL2 ending was better suited for pausing the series with an unknown ETA for the next game.
The original HL2 ending was better suited for pausing the series with an unknown ETA for the next game.
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Nagorak
Well-known member
Well, the thing is, Gordon isn't really much of a character at all is he?
I think that the mute protagonist is one of those "out of time" things. It was fine back in the 90s and early 00s, but game storytelling moved on. I always thought it weird that Valve sort of bragged about Gordon being mute, so "the player could be him", like it was actually some sort of intentional thing, and not just tech/storytelling limitations of the era (which is what I think the real reason was--at least I hope so).
If they do continue HL I do hope they kind of let him go by the wayside at this point. Or at least move on from that mute protagonist thing to give him some personality. He'd be a lot more interesting if he was quoting some esoteric physics, or making other weird nerdy/intellectual comments.
Agreed on all points. It's a fairly strong storyline at this point, and that calls for characters that can add to it verbally.
Of course, this is all moot if Valve declines to close the loop with a finale.
theshadowcult
New member
It wasnt story telling limitations of the era... they did do it by choice. The ONLY limitation in story telling at the time was most of it was told in cutscenes, and half life didnt want to have cutscenes. Even then though it wasnt a limitation, but a choice developers made.
This. They didn't need to do the episodes at all, but once they started those they should have finished them. Not all cliffhangers are created equal.
JohnnyFlash
Professional Lurker
That was the whole gimmick that made it awesome, no game had scripted events or no loading screens. It felt like a real place, cut scenes or Gordon speaking would have been out of place.