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Journal Du Gamer Rumor: Half-Life 3 to be open-world?
- Thread starter alexandros
- Start date
Valve eventually released TF2 and that took 8 years, so we still have a few to go before abject cynicism is called for.
Don't know if want...
The awesome things about HL1 and HL2 to a lesser extent is they did an amazing job of mixing gameplay with a well told-via-gameplay-mechanics story. Now I'm all for having more open areas or ways of attacking things like the original Crysis, but the story still needs to be well told with events/set-pieces/dialog punctuated throughout in an almost naturally unfolding way, which is easiest to do well linearly. I have a feeling if suddenly I can just roam around randomly and there's NPC quests it's going to make it into a completely different game experience, and definitely a lot more "game-y" (worst case scenario: "Hey Freeman, I have some crossbow bolts and a valve wheel you can use to open the backdoor to that combine bunker, but my family is trapped in the basement of that house surrounded by headcrabs. If you can kill 10 of them I'm sure that'll be enough they can make it back safely and I'll give you the items"). I trust Valve to do it right but I think for HL3 I really do want more of the same but better and a good-enough conclusion to the HL story.
The awesome things about HL1 and HL2 to a lesser extent is they did an amazing job of mixing gameplay with a well told-via-gameplay-mechanics story. Now I'm all for having more open areas or ways of attacking things like the original Crysis, but the story still needs to be well told with events/set-pieces/dialog punctuated throughout in an almost naturally unfolding way, which is easiest to do well linearly. I have a feeling if suddenly I can just roam around randomly and there's NPC quests it's going to make it into a completely different game experience, and definitely a lot more "game-y" (worst case scenario: "Hey Freeman, I have some crossbow bolts and a valve wheel you can use to open the backdoor to that combine bunker, but my family is trapped in the basement of that house surrounded by headcrabs. If you can kill 10 of them I'm sure that'll be enough they can make it back safely and I'll give you the items"). I trust Valve to do it right but I think for HL3 I really do want more of the same but better and a good-enough conclusion to the HL story.
Not that I think the rumor is legit but this would explain A LOT. Source with proper streaming support would need to be fully implemented and I'm sure Valve would lovingly polish the whole thing. Still, I'm not sure how the Borealis setting would translate to an open world kind of thing. City 17 would have been a better location for that.
Fratkabula
Banned
It starts.
la flama blanca
Banned
Do not want.
michealgodno.gif
Valve is one of the few developers that know how to make a scripted, linear experience. HL1 and 2's linear level design is more like a skinny rectangle than a line. There's plenty of little secrets and shortcuts to discover along the way, which encourages you to slow down and approach situations differently.
It's nice, once and a while, not having to deal with walking back and forth over the same patch of dirt over and over again like in 99% of "open-world" games.
Valve is one of the few developers that know how to make a scripted, linear experience. HL1 and 2's linear level design is more like a skinny rectangle than a line. There's plenty of little secrets and shortcuts to discover along the way, which encourages you to slow down and approach situations differently.
It's nice, once and a while, not having to deal with walking back and forth over the same patch of dirt over and over again like in 99% of "open-world" games.
clutch.as.it.gets.
Member
This.
GravityMan
Member
I'd rather Valve do this open-world thing with a new IP, and keep HL3 as a linear FPS with awesome level design and amazing set-pieces, like HL and HL2. Do some new things with HL3 to keep it fresh, but open-world is way too drastic.
Anyway, I think this rumor is false.
Anyway, I think this rumor is false.
Missing regenerating health and twitter integration.
Graphics Horse
Member
If they wanted something that was easy to make it would be out by now. I'mjustsayin.
HL2 is basically 'you need to go here' then 'you need to go here and this will happen' etc...
That's basically the story, and could work with a more open environment without judging it too much. But I have no reason to believe the info anyway.
clutch.as.it.gets.
Member
Exactly. The left map is similar to a Bioshock level while the right one is Call of Duty "at it`s best".
Cameron122
Member
You could separate it into two different games like Pokémon
Half Life 3: Orange->Linear shooter with Gordan Freeman as a silent protagonist
Half Life 3: Green->Adrian Shepard in an open world FPS RPG
Half Life 3: Orange->Linear shooter with Gordan Freeman as a silent protagonist
Half Life 3: Green->Adrian Shepard in an open world FPS RPG
Cries
Sentenza
Member
Jesus Christ, you people can always think of the worst example for every feature.
What about making it STALKER-like? Because that's how I could see an "open world" Half-Life.
And that's without even taking Doug Church in consideration: a man who was designing far better non-linear experiences almost 20 years before those games you mentioned.
That would be awesome. So the evolution of the FPS genre will be open world.
Good that we can see the end of this:
You should try far cry 3 this fall
CF_Fighter
Member
How would this work with the direction the story was going? We still need to go to the Borealis in the frozen north, find Dr. Mossman, and find out the whole portal technology connection with Aperture.
Years ago someone on another site proposed that Half-Life 3 take place on the Combine's home turf. That at the end of the HL2 arc we teleport to their world or are sent there by the G-Man. I could see an open world working there, but with closing out the HL2 story it simply doesn't fit.
Also, Gabe mentioned in an interview that looking back on HL2 he felt they announced it too early, to him it felt too incomplete and the Sept. 30 2003 release date was too ambitious. He learned his lesson with that so I think that is feeding into why we haven't heard much on the game thus far. He says it's coming and I believe him, but I'm taking this article with a handful of salt.
Years ago someone on another site proposed that Half-Life 3 take place on the Combine's home turf. That at the end of the HL2 arc we teleport to their world or are sent there by the G-Man. I could see an open world working there, but with closing out the HL2 story it simply doesn't fit.
Also, Gabe mentioned in an interview that looking back on HL2 he felt they announced it too early, to him it felt too incomplete and the Sept. 30 2003 release date was too ambitious. He learned his lesson with that so I think that is feeding into why we haven't heard much on the game thus far. He says it's coming and I believe him, but I'm taking this article with a handful of salt.