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Valve should pull a George Lucas and sell Half-Life to someone who gives a shit
- Thread starter Zombie James
- Start date
George Lucas ruined Star Wars. Valve has only made great Half Life games.
Not sure I would want to play a Half Life game not made by Valve. I mean what's even the point. People don't love Half Life for its story or characters (unlike Star Wars).
HL2 barely had any connection with HL1. Most of the characters were new and there was a whole bunch of backstory that was kinda forced in to make it seem like HL2 was in the same universe.
I would rather the franchise die than some other studio attempt to make an HL game that is less than great.
Not sure I would want to play a Half Life game not made by Valve. I mean what's even the point. People don't love Half Life for its story or characters (unlike Star Wars).
HL2 barely had any connection with HL1. Most of the characters were new and there was a whole bunch of backstory that was kinda forced in to make it seem like HL2 was in the same universe.
I would rather the franchise die than some other studio attempt to make an HL game that is less than great.
Crankshaft
Member
I think they should never make Half Life 3 and just see how long people will clamor for it before giving up or dying.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
Basically.
They've already kinda done this. They tried getting Warren Spector's studio to work on it, then 2 years into that Disney bought them and canceled the project. They tried Arkane but that went nowhere. Guess they aren't willing to try a third party developer for a third time after two major failures.
Arkane was already given a chance... no one knows why it was canceled but apparently Valve wasn't happy with it.
The Cartographer
Member
Don't even joke about this!
Holy shit.
GoldandBlue
Member
Who said I was joking though?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
2017 and some people are still in anger/bargaining. It's better than denial, but we really would expect people to be in depression or ideally acceptance by this point.
Barry Burton
Member
They won't sell the IP (or Portal, L4D, etc. either). There's no need on Valve's part to get any return on it right now, and should the day ever come where Steam isn't a cash cow for them, they'll still have the Half-Life brand at their disposal.
I would like to see them license out their IP, though, if they have no plans to do anything with them internally. I'd rather see someone else's take on these games than no take at all.
I would like to see them license out their IP, though, if they have no plans to do anything with them internally. I'd rather see someone else's take on these games than no take at all.
There's a lot of things I don't get about this debate that I see throughout the thread.
1. "Expectations will be tremendous for Valve after all this time"
That's not how it works, or how it should work at least. It's one thing for a project to be on track for many years and get tons of effort put into it- it's another for an obviously dead project to get brought to life at some point. For a recent example, the hype/expectation cycle for The Last Guardian built from the point SotC finished to its reveal to probably a year or two after that before it began to plateau as the project floundered. By the time the game actually came out, I'd say my expectations were lower, if anything, than if it had come out on time.
2. "The game needs to be revolutionary"
No, it doesn't. The best HL game is Episode 2- a title that, largely, brought nothing new to the franchise, much less the genre. These games succeed for their strength in execution, not the novelty of their concepts.
3. "The franchise has been left in the past"
The industry is not putting out games with the quality and nature of Episode 2 with such frequency that an Episode 3 or HL3 would not be welcome. I'd also add that Episode 2's campaign remained unmatched in single player FPSes till potentially Titanfall 2 last year, and even then that's a toss up. Beyond my feelings on the quality of the franchise, there aren't even other series that do what HL does- a linear story driven fps blended with puzzle solving and the occasional vehicular segment. It would actually be fresh in the current environment simply because no one else even goes for that specific mix.
As for the OP's question itself, I do agree with others sadly that- given the strength of HL relies on its execution- Valve really is- or was- what made it special. I just don't see another team nailing it. (Although, on the TF2 note, if Respawn- with their Source experience and amazing TF2 campaign- theoretically had the IP and the old HL writers/Valve agreed to hand them their vision/script, I'd definitely give it a shot)
1. "Expectations will be tremendous for Valve after all this time"
That's not how it works, or how it should work at least. It's one thing for a project to be on track for many years and get tons of effort put into it- it's another for an obviously dead project to get brought to life at some point. For a recent example, the hype/expectation cycle for The Last Guardian built from the point SotC finished to its reveal to probably a year or two after that before it began to plateau as the project floundered. By the time the game actually came out, I'd say my expectations were lower, if anything, than if it had come out on time.
2. "The game needs to be revolutionary"
No, it doesn't. The best HL game is Episode 2- a title that, largely, brought nothing new to the franchise, much less the genre. These games succeed for their strength in execution, not the novelty of their concepts.
3. "The franchise has been left in the past"
The industry is not putting out games with the quality and nature of Episode 2 with such frequency that an Episode 3 or HL3 would not be welcome. I'd also add that Episode 2's campaign remained unmatched in single player FPSes till potentially Titanfall 2 last year, and even then that's a toss up. Beyond my feelings on the quality of the franchise, there aren't even other series that do what HL does- a linear story driven fps blended with puzzle solving and the occasional vehicular segment. It would actually be fresh in the current environment simply because no one else even goes for that specific mix.
As for the OP's question itself, I do agree with others sadly that- given the strength of HL relies on its execution- Valve really is- or was- what made it special. I just don't see another team nailing it. (Although, on the TF2 note, if Respawn- with their Source experience and amazing TF2 campaign- theoretically had the IP and the old HL writers/Valve agreed to hand them their vision/script, I'd definitely give it a shot)
Tyraniboah
Member
I do think it would be a good idea to farm it out to a studio that cares/would do a good job. However, they run a business, and the primary purpose is to make money. They are supposed to stick with what makes the most money.
Edit: and to the poster above, Respawn would be a great choice
for what it's worth, we are going to get a new Half Life someday. You heard it here first
Edit: and to the poster above, Respawn would be a great choice
Abilidebob
Member
I saw quite a few times here on Gaf some people wanting Naughty Dog to make HL3.
I don't know what to think.
Oh shit.
I don't know what to think.
Oh shit.
Arkane could probably make a pretty good Half Life-like game, just like Prey was a System Shock-like game. Buuuuut no one's going to make a Half Life 3, no one wants to make a disappointing game and with the hype and legend surrounding HL3, it's bound to be disappointing.
Not like this.
Calm Mind
Member
Thank you!
Icyflamez96
Member
Yeah but I'd imagine most random studios would have a lot more to gain from working on HF3 than Valve does. Valve making HF3 would probably be the lesser thing to do with their resources in terms of getting money with the position they're in.
Mass Effect
Member
Naughty Dog is the antithesis of Half-Life in regards to story-telling.
sixteen-bit
Member
Disney to buy Half-Life?
Mr. Phellps
Member
Gross.
Have you even played Half-Life? If you did you would know that Naughty Dog's style of storytelling is pretty much the complete opposite of Half-Life's.
Naughty Dog making a Half-Life sequel would be as nonsensical as Paradox Interactive making Uncharted 5.
Robottiimu2000
Member
This thread makes me feel old.
My assumption is that the people saying nobody cares, must have been born around when Half-Life (1) was originaly published. Otherwise their argument just doesn't make sense.
Because if you WERE there.. you would care(*). Just think of a game that blew your mind and.. wellthereitis.gif
(*) Not counting the 5% of any given group of people which does not care anyway and did not care about half-life originally
On the matter of OP.. HL:VR - Believe.
My assumption is that the people saying nobody cares, must have been born around when Half-Life (1) was originaly published. Otherwise their argument just doesn't make sense.
Because if you WERE there.. you would care(*). Just think of a game that blew your mind and.. wellthereitis.gif
(*) Not counting the 5% of any given group of people which does not care anyway and did not care about half-life originally
On the matter of OP.. HL:VR - Believe.
Soulblighter31
Banned
you're grossly overestimating NDogs abilities. They barely care about making games, they're all about movie like stories, they even said gameplay is of secondaty importance to them. They admire walking sims and used one with some old lady in a cemetary as inspiration for their game's design. Theres nothing subtle about their games, nothing out of the ordinary.
Just have a look at this video to see a glimpse of some of the genius of old-valve and how stuff was working behind the scenes without us knowing it, conciously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMggqenxuZc
They were manipulating us in so many ways during the game to evoke certain reactions, emotions from us through they're design and gameplay. Naughty Dog makes games on autopilot with hours of cutscenes. They dont stand a chance
underrated post
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
Half Life 3 will be the Vive's first killer gaming app once the cost ceases to be prohibitive.
Maybe.
Until then, Gordon died defending an elevator in Episode 1 because I couldn't get past it for the life of me ok cool bye.
Maybe.
Until then, Gordon died defending an elevator in Episode 1 because I couldn't get past it for the life of me ok cool bye.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
Even Valve.
Colossal Moo
Member
Phediuk has a point. HL3 may not sell 10 million copies but it would sell very well if it was created by a good developer. I remember playing part of HL2 and it did have a good story and a lot of fans really want to know how the Half Life story ends.
The_Spaniard
Netmarble
Funny, considering back in the day they created an incredible expansion pack, and two other pretty good ones for Half-Life. Lord knows if they could pull it off again though.
They didn't even manage to make Uncharted 4 an amazing game and that's something they actually know how to make. A Naughty Dog made Half Life 3 would be terrible.
ashecitism
Member
We know it's a thing. At least internally. References to that are getting added to Dota and Destinations. Iirc includes a lot of antlions. Some speculated it might be the Ep2 antlion gauntlet in the mines in VR. Now wether it actually releases? Who knows.
Netherscourge
Banned
I don't know anymore...
Half-Life sorta turned into a Tech Demo for the Source engines.
I'm surprised they have't done a full-on Counter Strike reboot.
Half-Life sorta turned into a Tech Demo for the Source engines.
I'm surprised they have't done a full-on Counter Strike reboot.
Neuromancer
Member
I'm ok playing better games from better developers, like the Metro series from 4A Games for example. It's time to let Half Life die.
Tons of people would buy Half-Life 3
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