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

Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
I knew old Valve was dead when half the things Gabe kept saying are how games are becoming "service-based". They figured out how to make more money with online-persistent games and effectively killed singleplayer. Sucks. I wonder what the writers at Valve do there now, I guess that's why some of the big ones left.

Soon Valve will outsource writing as well and ask the fans to write new singleplayer content and they'll get paid from 99 cent half-life ribbons that people can buy for their tf2/dota characters.

Arkane Studios and MachineGames are the new Valve now.
 
L

Luigi87

Member
I am... Satisfied with this.

G-Man abandoning Gordon to his death,
and the Vortigaunts saving him
is really fitting, considering the way Episode One started.

"We'll see about that."
 
pr0cs

pr0cs

Member
Oreoleo said:
God bless you Marc Laidlaw, and thank you.
Click to expand...
Qft
Reading that makes me so sad, the synopsis sounds so good,I'm so disappointed that we'll never see it realized.

Valve is a shade of its former self. Now it's a money grubbing behemoth with zero interest in reclaiming it's former glory. What a fall from grace
 
S

Syf

Banned
ChaosXVI said:
Ugh God damn...it just doesn't make sense...Half-Life 2 was a very successful game. I just don't understand how this never got made.
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I mean it's not just that they were very successful. HL and HL2 were two of the most important games the FPS genre ever saw. To see a writer resort to finishing the series (or at least the HL2 story) with a blog post is awful.
 
Z

z1ggy

Member
If you have some billions in the bank, at least you could please your fans. At the end of the day, you will be still a billionaire. I don´t understand the silence from Valve all these years. But well, at least we can finally move on.
 
Agent_Carnage

Agent_Carnage

Member
Why cant Valve just man up and Make Half Life 3 to end the story of Gordan Freeman. Did all the money they make from Steam really went to their heads? Why cant they licence Half Life to a good dev team so they can make Half Life 3?

With that the story is still unfinished. The Combine still exist and does not explain the role of The G-Man.
 
F

Fox318

Member
Frozenprince said:
EP3 was always intended to come out about a year after 2 and lead into HL3 which would be the actual conclusion.

Given that EP3 was never actually even close to completed, I can't imagine they even had more than a storyboard at best for the actual HL3, so this is about as far as the narrative likely got from the writing team at Valve at the time.

Honestly at this point I'd take a book series.
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Valve would release it on the same timeframe as the TF2 comic updates.

Valve is basically a more successful Konami.
 
Mikey Jr.

Mikey Jr.

Member
HariKari said:
We went in circles but the company has changed



No one cares about the past games we made or what I want to do



I tried my best to have HL continue



Valve has gotten rid of the old Valve guard



Some people still care about the past, but Valve has changed completely



Chase that crate money if you want. Peace out.
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Haha, didn't catch that.

Yep, valve is officially dead.
 
A

Angry Guy

Member
Pretty appropriate that the ending is that nothing mattered and by the way, have another cliffhanger.

That last paragraph is scathing.
 
B

Bizzquik

Member
TheSecondSpitter said:
At the end of the day, Valve became just like any other publisher.
Click to expand...

Ouch.
I mean, come on....you don't really think...

sad-waiting.jpg


Well, yup...I guess we're done here.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
If only they didn't rest on their laurels about Ep 3 to the point of killing the episodic structure, being replaced instead with colossal HL3 shoes to fill that they could never muster the courage to do. Ep 2 was a terrible cliffhanger, but at least this would've put a similar conclusion on things as HL1 and 2.

At least it's some conclusion. Thanks Marc.
 
O

OverdriveOtaku

Member
BY2K said:
Are you fucking telling me it was gonna end on another cliffhanger!?
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Genuine question: In any of the small bits of info that have led up to this moment, despite how long people have waited for this game, did Valve or Gabe ever refer to this as being a concluding game?

Azzanadra said:
Its sad because all Valve had to do to appease their fans was release some quick, even mediocre episode 3 (something that would have taken 6-12 months t whip out) that would conclude the story, regardless of its qualiy HL3 would not have become the massive meme that it has become now and people wouldn't feel like they were "taken on a ride" as you say.
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Yep, and the simple, lazy courteous thing to do would've been to at least SAY SOMETHING instead of letting these poor people teeter on the edge of their seat for so many years. Their handling of this has been a comedy with no punchline.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Angry Fork said:
I knew old Valve was dead when half the things Gabe kept saying are how games are becoming "service-based". They figured out how to make more money with online-persistent games and effectively killed singleplayer. Sucks. I wonder what the writers at Valve do there now, I guess that's why some of the big ones left.

Soon Valve will outsource writing as well and ask the fans to write new singleplayer content and they'll get paid from 99 cent half-life ribbons that people can buy for their tf2/dota characters.

Arkane Studios and MachineGames are the new Valve now.
Click to expand...
And Respawn. It's ironic how Titanfall 2 shares a similar mechanic to the Borealis,
 
F

Frozenprince

Banned
Betty said:
I don't know, I think it would set up Half Life 3 to go in any direction it wanted and brought a conclusion to the main events of 2.

It really sounds like it would've been great.
Click to expand...

It's a GIANT cliffhanger, the girl you've spent 4 games worth of content with is gone with your former benefactor? You're trapped with the Vortigaunt in maybe Xen maybe not Xen? The Combine are revealed to be vastly more powerful than even you anticipated and now all human resistance has been squelched?

That's quite literally "PLAY THE SEQUEL TO GET THE REAL ENDING GAIS" the ending.
 
G

guybrushfreeman

Unconfirmed Member
Agent_Carnage said:
Why cant Valve just man up and Make Half Life 3 to end the story of Gordan Freeman. Did all the money they make from Steam really went to their heads? Why cant they licence Half Life to a good dev team so they can make Half Life 3?

With that the story is still unfinished. The Combine still exist and does not explain the role of The G-Man.
Click to expand...

I think you mean the story of Gertie Fremont..... ahem
 
-Plasma Reus-

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
This is like when Konami created a panchiko machine, with PS4 graphics rendered remake of MGS3, just to show us they could make it, but never will.
 
Y

Yukinari

Member
I feel like all the complaints about HL in every Valve thread are even more justified now.

No wonder why Gabe dodged the HL questions after 2008-2009
 
T

TheSecondSpitter

Member
Frozenprince said:
It's a GIANT cliffhanger, the girl you've spent 4 games worth of content with is gone with your former benefactor? You're trapped with the Vortigaunt in maybe Xen maybe not Xen? The Combine are revealed to be vastly more powerful than even you anticipated and now all human resistance has been squelched?

That's quite literally "PLAY THE SEQUEL TO GET THE REAL ENDING GAIS" the ending.
Click to expand...
You know, there's a HUGE difference between a "cliffhanger" and an "amibiguous open ending."
 
V

Vectorman

Banned
Sounded like this was HL2: Episode 3 still. Just with a new area and all that. And then the real Half Life 3 would occur. This shit is tragic. Can't someone write the official novelization for HL3 and 4? ;_;
 
RadioactiveLobster

RadioactiveLobster

Member
Agent_Carnage said:
Why cant Valve just man up and Make Half Life 3 to end the story of Gordan Freeman. Did all the money they make from Steam really went to their heads? Why cant they licence Half Life to a good dev team so they can make Half Life 3?

With that the story is still unfinished. The Combine still exist and does not explain the role of The G-Man.
Click to expand...

I don't think we'd ever actually know what the G-Man is even if they did complete the story.

He's basically Tom Bombadil. He's an enigma and is probably not meant to be fully explained.

TheSecondSpitter said:
This really wouldn't have worked with purported (=mythical) organisational structure.
Click to expand...

Possible, we'll never know for sure though.
 
B

Betty

Banned
Frozenprince said:
It's a GIANT cliffhanger, the girl you've spent 4 games worth of content with is gone with your former benefactor? You're trapped with the Vortigaunt in maybe Xen maybe not Xen? The Combine are revealed to be vastly more powerful than even you anticipated and now all human resistance has been squelched?

That's quite literally "PLAY THE SEQUEL TO GET THE REAL ENDING GAIS" the ending.
Click to expand...

It's a great place to pause for a sequel I think.

All the games end on cliffhangers so it would be appropriate.

But I get what you mean, we'd yearn for a resolution with Alex & the combine.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
Vigilant Gambit said:
I haven't yet played HL2 Episode 2, nor read this synopsis.

Does this really end on another cliffhanger?
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It ends at a point that would've completed the HL2 era story arc, leaving things open for something in the future. Much like the end of HL1, and the end of HL2.

Which is to say, things were finished and concluded. Not left dangling in the middle of the action like Ep 2.
 
F

Frozenprince

Banned
I mean it's honestly ridiculous how Valve just refuse to say "the franchise is over (unless we make it a hero shooter), I'm glad for the fans and those along the way we influenced and touched, but that chapter of Valve and the franchise as a whole has ended".

It's been a DECADE. And they continue to be fucking coy about it like it's funny instead of just appeasing the few diehards that are left by allowing them to accept that it's never happening and finally at least get closure on the whole thing.
 
T

TheXbox

Member
Vigilant Gambit said:
I haven't yet played HL2 Episode 2, nor read this synopsis.

Does this really end on another cliffhanger?
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Totally, but in itself it functions as a (depressing) resolution to the events of the past games. Nothing you did mattered, ever. Your best friend has betrayed you. Humanity is doomed. Goodbye.
 
U

Uhyve

Member
oti said:
Half-Life 3 = limited money
Dota, Dota TCG, Steam = unlimited money

There, done. Now you know.
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I mean yeah, but Shenmue 3, the sequel to a Dreamcast game, made $6 million in 30 days. It's not like Valve is a publicly traded company, they could take the risk.
 
G

guybrushfreeman

Unconfirmed Member
Rickenslacker said:
It ends at a point that would've completed the HL2 era story arc, leaving things open for something in the future. Much like the cliffhanger at the end of HL1, and the one at the end of HL2.

Which is to say, things were finished and concluded. Not left dangling in the middle of the action like Ep 2.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a fair way to explain it I think
 
J

josecitoxnyo

Member
August 25, 2017, a day that will live forever in the minds of every single PC gamer out there.

RIP Half Life, you will be missed forever.
 
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