• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Marc Laidlaw reveals Half-Life 2 Episode 3's story synopsis

D

dragonbane

Member
TheSecondSpitter said:
Your statement is almost contradictory. For a game to sell 10M to be "successful" suggests high risk. I don't dispute that HL2:EP3 could have attained that, but answer this:

If your bank promised you an interest rate of 15% p.a, would you invest your money there, or would you invest in stocks if it meant you could earn 20% p.a. but earn nothing and lose your initial investment?

At this point, I picture Gabe as Mr Burns when he had so much money he was hallucinating germs that affected his health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEVsUAMsQ0
Click to expand...
I mean you always mention the financial side of things and sure its a business and that matters most. But there are also real human beings working there and as someone said on a much earlier page, passion projects are a thing. Even in this industry. Projects that dont necessarily make perfect sense financially, but they are still done to keep people happy, gain PR points and not get rusty creatively. Half Life 3 is not even close to being risky at all but still has the prestigious edge. Sure you can argue back and forth that Valve doesnt need it financially and its true, but I would just hope that the passion and talent there would have naturally made the push to make it happen. You can tell from their talent bleeding that probably something higher up is stopping it and it does make at least some of their most talented devs unhappy. And thats pretty dumb if you ask me to let that happen even if you dont need those devs anymore to make your MP games

Essentially the numbers agree with you but I would think if even a giant money grabbing publisher like Ubisoft can show a human side from time to time in greenlighting such a game as Beyond Good & Evil 2 I would just hope Valve could do the same
 
A

Arklite

Member
It sounds great, but anything can sound great. What makes it better is that you know Valve could've pulled it off in memorable fashion, particularly the cross-time flashes. Damn shame.
 
T

TheSecondSpitter

Member
MisterShine said:
Has there still been no response from Valve or any employees? I did a search and couldn't find anything.
Click to expand...
Of course they're not going to respond. Laidlaw exposed the entire company, for what it has become. Nothing Valve can say will fix this, short of actuallly saying he's wrong and we intend to release the game (which at this stage is not physical possible. It is analogous to SEGA announcing tomorrow they developing a new console despite lacking the resources to achieve this.)
 
D

Drake

Member
MisterShine said:
Has there still been no response from Valve or any employees? I did a search and couldn't find anything.
Click to expand...

If I had to guess they are probably annoyed that Laidlaw released this. The thing with HL3 being a meme is that the entire internet was always talking about it. It was just another way for Valve to stay relevant and free advertising for Steam. With this being released and people finally knowing how the story ends A LOT of that dies down as we can all now move on with our lives. Valve had no problem stringing their fans along, Marc Laidlaw figured the fans deserved some form of closure. I think most people now accept the series is officially dead.
 
V

VDenter

Banned
george_us said:
Well HL2 alone has sold over 11 million copies and Portal 2 around 4 million. Sure Steam is more profitable but it's not like their previous games weren't wildly successful in their own right.
Click to expand...

Yeah i am not sure why a big studio like valve could not do both at the same time. Support Steam and release a five hour long episode in their flagship profitable franchise like they promised they would in 2007.

The fact that this demand takes longer than a decade to fulfill is ridiculous and sad. Honestly the excuse that the money is not there is garbage.
 
T

tesqui

Member
Some of you seem to be against it, but I'd 100% be down with a Naughty Dog developed Half-Life game. If being Sony exclusive is what it takes, then so be it. That pales in comparison to what incredible work they could do. They'd of course have to keep it First Person, which would be interesting to see how they'd tackle that perspective. Imagine how fucking amazing it would look though. I can't even comprehend how that Dyson sphere scene would be.

I'm not even a big fan of there games (Well, Uncharted specifically. I like TLOU), but I still think they would do it justice.
 
S

sn00zer

Member
tesqui said:
Some of you seem to be against it, but I'd 100% be down with a Naughty Dog developed Half-Life game. If being Sony exclusive is what it takes, then so be it. That pales in comparison to what incredible work they could do. They'd of course have to keep it First Person, which would be interesting to see how they'd tackle that perspective. Imagine how fucking amazing it would look though. I can't even comprehend how that Dyson sphere scene would be.

I'm not even a big fan of there games (Well, Uncharted specifically. I like TLOU), but I still think they would do it justice.
Click to expand...
I mean.. there are much better studios to handle HL3

Resoawn, Insomnic, Arkane, eidos montreal
 
G

gabbo

Member
tesqui said:
Some of you seem to be against it, but I'd 100% be down with a Naughty Dog developed Half-Life game. If being Sony exclusive is what it takes, then so be it. That pales in comparison to what incredible work they could do. They'd of course have to keep it First Person, which would be interesting to see how they'd tackle that perspective. Imagine how fucking amazing it would look though. I can't even comprehend how that Dyson sphere scene would be.

I'm not even a big fan of there games (Well, Uncharted specifically. I like TLOU), but I still think they would do it justice.
Click to expand...
If they we're going to contract out, why not go with Arkane again? They already had them working on Ep4 before scrapping thing completely. They knew the engine and world, it wouldnt be starting from absolute zero.

Theyd be my choice with Starbreeze or MachineGames being fallbacks to take the reigns.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
sn00zer said:
I mean.. there are much better studios to handle HL3

Resoawn, Insomnic, Arkane, eidos montreal
Click to expand...

It would never happen but I think Machine Games could make a bad fucking ass Half Life game. Wolfenstein reminded me over and over of a lot of the best parts of Half Life especially the little moments.
 
L

LucidMomentum

Member
I would give almost anything to see that Borealis sequence in game, be it by Valve or ID or Machine Games or anyone with some FPS chops.

The time travel stuff sounded amazing.

Alyx being all hopeful the bombed ship will have an effect, only for Gordon to see after she's left that it wouldn't even be a bother to the Combine is really something.

The cliffhanger aspects would hurt less than Episode 2 did, that's for sure.
Shame Episode 3 will probably never come out.
 
O

Orthogonal

Member
*Tin foil hat time*

Gabe let this happen so the mod community can make the game. Valve extends an olive branch and allows them to make it without cease-and-desist and even let them publish it on Steam. Then the game is released, Valve gets its cut and never had to devote time or resources to it. Everyone wins.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
sn00zer said:
I mean.. there are much better studios to handle HL3

Resoawn, Insomnic, Arkane, eidos montreal
Click to expand...

If we wanna get depressed we can speculate about the cancelled Half Life 2 episodes / spin offs that also got cancelled at outside studios like Arkane studios and Junction Point


Its like after Episode 2 Valve just decided they wanted out of Half Life.
 
S

scitek

Member
gabbo said:
If they we're going to contract out, why not go with Arkane again? They already had them working on Ep4 before scrapping thing completely. They knew the engine and world, it wouldnt be starting from absolute zero.

Theyd be my choice with Starbreeze or MachineGames being fallbacks to take the reigns.
Click to expand...
Arkane is now owned by Bethesda.

Respawn is still indie, though they're working on a Star Wars game.
 
H

HariKari

Member
funkystudent said:
If we wanna get depressed we can speculate about the cancelled Half Life 2 episodes / spin offs that also got cancelled at outside studios like Arkane studios and Junction Point
.
Click to expand...

With Arkane in trouble, they should have them do a Half Life game. It'd sell bonkers if it was as good as Dishonored. But I get the impression that Valve doesn't want another company to actually make a game and show them up.
 
O

Oveja Negra

Member
JehutyGR said:
I think Valve is waiting for the right time to bring the game out. Half life always brought tech and gameplay breakthroughs. Maybe they are waiting for VR to mature so they can finally create the game THEY want us to experience.
Click to expand...

I've come to the same line of thinking long time ago and it's the only thing that explains that "but part of me, very deep inside still believes someday HL3 (as an episode or a new "full" game) will appear" part in my previous post.

Let's assume for a second that it's true, well... in that case, the future looks as sad as today cause it will take like another 10 years in order to get VR tech at more reasonable price levels that would allow a game to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

The other route is release it in a couple of years and make it the most elitist game ever, which means also it will not sell well (despite HL franchise being amazing).
 
S

SchrodingerC

Member
One plot thread I had hope the games would eventually answer was the fate of Shephard from Opposing Force. With no mention of Shephard in this synopsis, or a possibility of HL3, I guess his ending will be to remain in that void.
 
S

Surfinn

Member
SchrodingerC said:
One plot thread I had hope the games would eventually answer was the fate of Shephard from Opposing Force. With no mention of Shephard in this synopsis, or a possibility of HL3, I guess his ending will be to remain in that void.
Click to expand...

Hell if we can't even finish GORDON'S story I think there's not much hope for Shepard.
 
R

Ryouji Gunblade

Member
Orthogonal said:
*Tin foil hat time*

Gabe let this happen so the mod community can make the game. Valve extends an olive branch and allows them to make it without cease-and-desist and even let them publish it on Steam. Then the game is released, Valve gets its cut and never had to devote time or resources to it. Everyone wins.
Click to expand...

I like it, but is there a tin foil hat in TF2?
 
S

SchrodingerC

Member
Surfinn said:
Hell if we can't even finish GORDON'S story I think there's not much hope for Shepard.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately yeah. It would've been neat while during the Borelais' time/dimension shifting sequence a quick flash showed Shephard still stuck in that helicopter(?). Just a quick acknowledgement.
 
G

GlassAwful

Member
There will eventually be more Half-Life from one developer or another, when higher ups at Valve are no longer around to stop it from happening.
 
N

nomis

Member
Orthogonal said:
*Tin foil hat time*

Gabe let this happen so the mod community can make the game. Valve extends an olive branch and allows them to make it without cease-and-desist and even let them publish it on Steam. Then the game is released, Valve gets its cut and never had to devote time or resources to it. Everyone wins.
Click to expand...

everyone except the fans who died waiting a decade for a 4 hour ending to this story that Valve sold them into
 
R

Rodney McKay

Member
If Valve lets them, I wouldn't mind after the Xen update if the Black Mesa team puts together a game with these story beats as an "Unofficial, but kinda official" Episode 3.
 
D

dan2026

Member
I'm not sure why they didn't just make Half Life 3 at some point.
Even if it was mediocre, the name alone would of printed money.

I bet most other studios would kill to have a game with the recognition of Half Life.
 
S

Surfinn

Member
SchrodingerC said:
Unfortunately yeah. It would've been neat while during the Borelais' time/dimension shifting sequence a quick flash showed Shephard still stuck in that helicopter(?). Just a quick acknowledgement.
Click to expand...

Great idea sir

tesqui said:
Marc posted some more thoughts on epistle 3 on twitter:
https://twitter.com/marc_laidlaw/status/901647787854462976

This'd be pretty great:
Click to expand...

Wow. This would actually be a pretty incredible "ending" ("beginning"?). But only if we get a satisfying amount of closure before.
 
A

Auto-Reply

Member
tesqui said:
Some of you seem to be against it, but I'd 100% be down with a Naughty Dog developed Half-Life game. If being Sony exclusive is what it takes, then so be it. That pales in comparison to what incredible work they could do. They'd of course have to keep it First Person, which would be interesting to see how they'd tackle that perspective. Imagine how fucking amazing it would look though. I can't even comprehend how that Dyson sphere scene would be.

I'm not even a big fan of there games (Well, Uncharted specifically. I like TLOU), but I still think they would do it justice.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite things in Half Life 2 etc was playing the game with developer commentary bubbles activated and listening to the reasoning for why they did what they did in specific situations and it painted a picture of their overall design philosophy.
Now the people who held up that philosophy may not even be working at Valve any longer, I do not know. But having played Uncharted 1-3 and TloU, they are certainly not working at ND because they have completely different priorities, contrary to what I got from the commentary for HL2. ND could only do HL justice if they ditch their own priorities and adopt others, even if they were able to do that, I really doubt they want to do that because then why would it even matter if they or anyone else would make the game?

The only thing you'd get for certain from a ND HL is great tech/graphics/art, I don't know why anyone who has played some of NDs games would think that the rest of a theorethical HL game from them would be anything to write home about because they actually have some very visible flaws in game design and gameplay that completely run contrary to the Half Life design. (You could argue, "So what? Who said that old HL2 design is still relevant?" and that would be where the "Hell no!" answers come from!)
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
tesqui said:
Some of you seem to be against it, but I'd 100% be down with a Naughty Dog developed Half-Life game. If being Sony exclusive is what it takes, then so be it. That pales in comparison to what incredible work they could do. They'd of course have to keep it First Person, which would be interesting to see how they'd tackle that perspective. Imagine how fucking amazing it would look though. I can't even comprehend how that Dyson sphere scene would be.

I'm not even a big fan of there games (Well, Uncharted specifically. I like TLOU), but I still think they would do it justice.
Click to expand...

Naughty Dog's design philosophies are basically the exact opposite of Valve's, lmao. Maybe Mojang should make The Last of Us 3 too, or Telltale the next 3D Mario.

Seriously, this would be the worst Half-Life game imaginable. Press X to grab ladder before you dramatically fall to your demise. Press circle to execute G-Man. Waggle the stick to decide how you get your ass kicked by [untouchable female antagonist]. Half-Life is basic, straight forward, and immersive with relatively few cutscenes and "cinematic" walking sim bits. Naughty Dog makes a very specific kind of game and they do it reasonably well, but Half Life is not that game.

Auto-Reply said:
One of my favorite things in Half Life 2 etc was playing the game with developer commentary bubbles activated and listening to the reasoning for why they did what they did in specific situations and it painted a picture of their overall design philosophy.
Now the people who held up that philosophy may not even be working at Valve any longer, I do not know. But having played Uncharted 1-3 and TloU, they are certainly not working at ND because they have completely different priorities, contrary to what I got from the commentary for HL2. ND could only do HL justice if they ditch their own priorities and adopt others, even if they were able to do that, I really doubt they want to do that because then why would it even matter if they or anyone else would make the game?

The only thing you'd get for certain from a ND HL is great tech/graphics/art, I don't know why anyone who has played some of NDs games would think that the rest of a theorethical HL game from them would be anything to write home about because they actually have some very visible flaws in game design and gameplay that completely run contrary to the Half Life design. (You could argue, "So what? Who said that old HL2 design is still relevant?" and that would be where the "Hell no!" answers come from!)
Click to expand...

Everyone just likes circlejerking over companies that make games they like, without any regard to what kind of games they're actually known for making.
 
T

TheSecondSpitter

Member
nogoodnamesleft said:
Wow this would be one of the worst things ever
Click to expand...

I don't get the ND hate on this forum. Sure, sometimes they're drowning in their own Kool-Aid but there's no way Druckmann will disrespect the HL franchise.

Like I wrote in the other thread, The Last of Us was more than just inspired by Half Life 2 and the similarities are too many to be coincidental.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Half-Life Writer Marc Laidlaw Explains Why Series Shares Same Universe With Portal And Reveals Why He Regrets Leaking Game's Story
Opinion Game Dev
7
1K
Kev Kev replied
Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis -The Answer- Will Have New Events for Metis, Persona Compendium, 2 New Songs, Unaltered Ending; Estimated 20h Playtime
News
14
1K
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Artist Reveals Previously Unseen Half-Life 3 Artwork
Game Dev
5
2K
IbizaPocholo replied
So why hasn't there been a Half Life 3 yet?
2 3
142
9K
mxbison replied
GN24: Half-Life 3 was in development until 2015, but Valve was invested in VR.
2
72
5K
Kataploom replied
Top Bottom