Episode 3: Want / Do not want

Just give me a damn boss fight. A real boss fight. Not a hunter chopper. Not striders. Not a gunship. Not an antlion guard with a different color scheme. I want to fight an actual goddamn BOSS again.

Just give me a boss to fight, Valve. One boss. That's all I'm asking for here.
 
Darkside55 said:
Just give me a damn boss fight. A real boss fight. Not a hunter chopper. Not striders. Not a gunship. Not an antlion guard with a different color scheme. I want to fight an actual goddamn BOSS again.

Just give me a boss to fight, Valve. One boss. That's all I'm asking for here.
Click to expand...

To what exactly are you referring? Blast Pit/Power Up style 'bosses'?
 
Not another Blast pit :'( I really can't imagine any believable and entertaining boss (like a huge boss) fight in the HL2 gameplay. Antlion guard was awesome. Choppers and Striders are annoying.
 
Antlion guard was shit. They should have left in the antlion king. Also, not liking blast pit should be a crime punishable by death.

Jul3, exactly as I said: something that feels like a boss, that isn't just some enemy we've fought one hundred times before. The tentacle, gargantua, gonarch, Nihilanth...these were bosses. I want something that appears and makes me say, "Aww, shit, how do I fight this thing?" rather than, "Oh, look, it's another one of you again. Well, let's get this over with, you predictable piece of shit."

There's no sense of fear, wonder, or desperation in seeing a strider, nor a gunship. The apache was a terrifying thing; the hunter chopper doesn't give off the same feeling of tension. And I sincerely doubt the advisors will be as humbling a foe as the Nihilanth. I imagine they're going to involve some kind of "stun them so they can't use telekinesis, then throw things at them"-type 'boss.'

I just want something that really shakes me up at its presence.
 
And then they will give you a boss buster for it, to give you what you want, and then make it meaningless.
 
The sad truth.

You know, though, it's not like most of the Half-Life bosses--save for the gonarch and Nihilanth--didn't have an instant kill switch either. The apache required the equivalent of a strider buster to defeat, the gargantua was literally killed by a switch, and the tentacle was defeated by the press of a button--albeit after a long sequence of rerouting power to the rocket. But something about them just made them feel more involved. Maybe it was the sheer size of them, the fact that they were limited in number, and had really great setpieces attached to them. Each one of these bosses had a bit of fanfare when they showed up; nothing in HL2 has that. And then you see them over, and over again...
 
The style of gaming has changed in general..In most modern shooters boss battles don't play such a big part.
Bioshock series for example still feature boss battles, but they don't carry the epicness and anxiety you would have when facing a boss in the old games.
Doom 3, HL1, Return to Castle Wolfenstein..I remember when playing for the first time, whenever a boss battle was coming up, you would know it - there would be an instant change in atmosphere. Even Max Payne 1 had some awesome boss battles.
I really want the awesome, crazy weapons and boss battles back, but I know they wouldn't be consistent with HL's current style.

ps Imagine how awesome a boss battle at ravenholm could've been eg. father grigori gets transformed at some point into a crazy shotgun wielding zombie :D
 
valkyr3003 said:
I really want the awesome, crazy weapons and boss battles back, but I know they wouldn't be consistent with HL's current style.
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And this is a failing of Valve's. There have been so many opportunities across HL2 and its expansions, particularly in the episodes, where a crazy boss fight would have worked perfectly. Valve's desire to move away from boss fights in an FPS is really taking away some of the heart that made Half-Life (the first game) the phenomenon that it was.

ps Imagine how awesome a boss battle at ravenholm could've been eg. father grigori gets transformed at some point into a crazy shotgun wielding zombie :D
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Although, sorry, this I can't get behind. Too cheesy.
 
Darkside55 said:
Just give me a damn boss fight. A real boss fight. Not a hunter chopper. Not striders. Not a gunship. Not an antlion guard with a different color scheme. I want to fight an actual goddamn BOSS again.

Just give me a boss to fight, Valve. One boss. That's all I'm asking for here.
Click to expand...

This.

Matter of fact, I just want Darkside to make Episode 3.
 
HL2 has bosses, but they're definitely mini-bosses compared to those in HL1. In HL1, all the boss fights take place over a large area - gargantua and tentacle both have you trekking off doing errands to kill them, gonarch must be chased through 3 different areas and Nihilanth teleports you all over the place. They all also have their own little theme tunes, while with HL2 bosses you hardly get bugger all music. I'd almost buy it if they said it was in the name of realism, if not for Gordon still carrying enough weapons to herniate his spine, hunter choppers dropping about 50x their own volume in bombs, and Alyx's inexplicable ability to hack computer systems by blasting them with electricity (oh I'm sorry, EMP was it? Could've sworn that stuff was invisible.).
 
HL2 was a tad disappointing in it's scope comparing to HL1. Vast government conspiracy + aliens of indeterminate origin > oppressive alien regime (that is essentially the USSR.) And all through my first playthrough I kept missing the weirdness of HL1. A scientist fighting a three-headed carnivorous plant or a giant crab with a nutsack is just so much cooler than, say, fighting a hunter chopper or Breen's gunships. This is why HL1 didn't use the helicopter as a major boss, it's pedestrian. It was even back in 1998. I love that HL2 pushed gaming into new territory, storytelling wise, but couldn't help but feel a lot of what Valve got right the first time, they just plain forgot the second time around.
 
I think he's talking about the fact that BMRF had military connections, and also the black ops being sent in. Not exactly a government conspiracy, but I guess that's what he's referring to.
 
Darkside55 said:
I think he's talking about the fact that BMRF had military connections, and also the black ops being sent in. Not exactly a government conspiracy, but I guess that's what he's referring to.
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The government sending soldiers to "silence" a facility where things went bad? Pretty sure that's a conspiracy.
And I'm certain Sierra used that word in some of their marketing blurbs.
 
Well, Sierra's ads aren't exactly the best place to quote story points. ;)

But the government didn't exactly send HECU in to silence anyone at Black Mesa, they sent them in for containment. The black ops are a different story. I wouldn't call it a conspiracy, just a cover up. There was nothing conspiratorial going on.
 
Darkside55 said:
the government didn't exactly send HECU in to silence anyone at Black Mesa, they sent them in for containment.
Click to expand...

Oh, right. So that's why they end up shooting at anyone and anything including Gordon Freeman...
 
Point taken. Although, it still wasn't a conspiracy. And you also have to wonder if it was for the purpose of keeping the incident quiet or if it was like, "Everyone in here might've been exposed to something, kill them all."
 
I still wouldn't put too much stock into that. Things written up for marketing can vary from what's going on even if it was written internally.
 
Want:
The Portal Gun
New Alyx moves
New Xen enemys
More Vortigaunt models
New weapon sounds

Don't want:
Sad ending
 
I seem to be the only one that is longing for a discovery of the Borealis.
 
Want:
- New rendering pipeline (read: no more BSP, so basically a very significant overhaul of the Source engine so that it can properly do large environments)
- Modernised and streamlined SDK
- Greater integration of the corporate war between Aperture and Black Mesa
- A story that somehow ties TF2 into the HL/Portal universe
- Greater emphasis on creative physics puzzles, ones that don't rely almost solely on things like simple fulcrums
- Return of more Xen fauna, especially Bullsquids, Snarks, and Houndeyes (Race X excepted; Op4 didn't really help the canon)
- Co-op
- A more direct emphasis on the Combine's role as an imperialist regime after our planetary resources, and how Xen and HL1's events factor into it

Not want:
- Current version of Source
 
I think when Valve does reveal the next Half-Life game, people are gonna be hit by a strange mix of confusion and surprise.
 
I have a hypothesis that TF2 is an interactive combat simulation program that Aperture Science test subjects are subjected to while in stasis, to keep their minds sharp. The Mannconomy is in place to keep test subjects addicted to the program. Also, Zepheniah Mann is the digital alter-ego of Cave Johnson.

Furthermore!

Do not want: Episode 3

Want: HL3
 
Do not want: Co-op or multiplayer in Half-Life. At least, make it a separate section.
 
Want:

Alyx to be a playable character. If not in a co-op situation (like Resident Evil 5), maybe a half level or something to let her be the hero for a change.

Don't Want:

More Vehicles. Driving is my least favorite part of the game. Unless it's a helicopter, which I think is where episode three would start.
 
Acid Mars said:
Want:

Alyx to be a playable character. If not in a co-op situation (like Resident Evil 5), maybe a half level or something to let her be the hero for a change.

Don't Want:

More Vehicles. Driving is my least favorite part of the game. Unless it's a helicopter, which I think is where episode three would start.
Click to expand...
If there is a controllable helicopter, at least let it be easier to control like in Call of Duty Black Ops, and not something like the helicopters in GTA IV.
 
Do want: More Aperture Science / Black Mesa story-line tie over.

Do not want: Alyx OR Gordon to die! I would like them to survive throughout the entire series.
 
If Gordon dies the whole Half Life story as it was from Half Life 1 is pretty much over.
 
Want:
- Gordon to get opportunities to be completely badass.
- More claustrophobic.
- More levels in a similar vein to Ravenholm, but then again not really. I'd prefer if there was a new enemy instead of zombified head crab people (?!)
- A definite back story. Throw us a bone like you did in Portal 2. Tell us SOMETHING we want to hear.

Do not want:
- A sad ending. A Duke Nukem ending would be pretty badass; G Man is about to take Alyx and Barney off to Zen permanently and enslave them, before Gordon swings in through the window and says 'Its time to kick ass and chew bubble gum...and i'm all out of gum'.
- ANY boring moments. There were some parts of HL2 that i was playing just to get through it. Like the Route Canal levels. I need constant action, or at least a constantly absorbing environment.
- Head crabs. Annoying bastards. Completely wishful thinking though, as they're a staple of the series.
- Portal Gun. I think it's inevitable that the storylines will cross, and i have my own reservations about exactly how it will (i think we all do), but the only way i can see it working is if it is used briefly, like if Gordon uses it at the very end to save himself from death, then leaving it.
 
Maybe this suggestion is more geared towards a bigger HL3 than ep 3. I'll probably think up some more too... I'll get the do-not-wants out of the way first.

Do Not Want:
  • Too many jokes, hollywood style humour. Keep the black humour and the secret in-jokes but I prefer a more real "our world as we know it is gone" tone.
  • Unrealistic coincidences. Lots of games and movies fall in this trap where to push the story forward you have everything that happens be related to the main characters some how no matter how implausible and stupid. The Star Wars prequels are a good example and the new Transformers movie to name a few.

Want:

Believable interaction with NPCs: Animations + AI
I think since HL2 we haven't seen much advancement in this area-- NPC's can emote and stare at you, maybe with a few hand gestures but it's heavily scripted and limited. Games like Mass Effect and LA Noire have gone beyond HL2 in terms of looks but the general mechanics are the same. I'd like to see NPCs that react to your actions and the environment while having a dynamic script to follow. If they want to talk to you they can follow you or wave at you, if there's a chair nearby they might sit in it or lean against a wall, look out a window, react to other NPCs who are also walking by (also unscripted), do things to get your atttention, or even grab a hold of you if you're being an ass; all while pausing, speaking, and emoting naturally and appropriately to the situation.

NPCs could have different animations and reactions depending on the mood of the particular scene without all interactions playing in the same "hard coded" manner. Ideally you could even have 'emergent scenes' that happen due to the context, not because of an inescapable script. For example, while you're spending a while figuring out a puzzle, an NPC sits by a wall and falls asleep. You could wait until he wakes up to watch his reaction, wake him up and force him to move, or leave him behind. You'd get a short scene making you realize that these guys are really worn down and tired from fighting or, alternatively, if you blow by the puzzle he wouldn't fall asleep in the first place.

Furthermore, emergent scenes can allow designers to pack more lines and backstory into the game without having to individually animate each and every actor you meet (run and gun players can also speed by these scenes without getting held up). The actor would just be given a certain mood and 'improv' the rest. Here's an example: a resistance soldier talks about his wife in an aloof sort of mood, leans against a wall and lights a cigarette. The leaning and cigarette lighting animations can be generic throughout the game but adapted and combined in this interaction so that it fits. In some cases maybe you reach him while he's on patrol outside and gives the same speech while staring up at the sky. If you just take off, he ends his story naturally and dismisses you. It might also be that the game knows you've heard this speech or seen this event already so removes it as a possibility.
 
I'd just like to point out that the visual style of the portals (large, colourful amd simplistic) does not suit the gritty world of Half-Life. So all this "I want the portal gun" nonsense is irritatingly stupid and childish. Besides, other than the fact that it would completely destroy the point of a seperate Portal franchise, I highly doubt Valve would implement an "innovation" we're all already familiar with. I want something new/different.
 
Hi to everybody!

My wishes for Episode 3:

Want:

+ News about it!
+ A longer episode than EP1 and EP2
+ Dark inmersive and misterious atmosphere
+ History! More interrelation between characters
+ New synth NPCs
+ Old discarded enemies or updated HL1 monsters like houndeye, gargantua...
+ Aperture Science background, but not too much!. Maybe a brief Chell mention?
+ Epic ending for the HL2 saga!

Don't want:

- A brief episode like the previous ones. NO NO NO!!!
- Zombies, antlions and headcrabs (at least not a lot of them)
- Same locations or similar ones.
- Portals and portalgun as we know them. Portal brand must reserve its own identity!
 
I want less boobs.

HL's been going real overboard with those.
 
Absinthe said:
I want less boobs.

HL's been going real overboard with those.
Click to expand...
I wanted less boobs because they didn't have a 'use' function to restore health.

I am a action junkie so more real shooting with real guns with lots of ammo. Fallout New Vegas is my favorite despite its forever annoying bugs because of the huge amount of variety of weapons and with allowance for modded features. If you don't play hardcore mode you can have like over 9000 bullets (literally) without weight issues.

Half Life may have been unrealistic with a shotgun with over 120 rounds in spare ammo which I was unlikely to use all of, but I preferred that feeling of being spoilt for choice over the so-called realism.
 
Want:

Kraken Base, Air Exchange
Cut HL2 beta weapons.
More info on Gman
Basically more cut beta stuff. Make the story interesting like it was with the beta.
Multiplayer, which HL2 was supposed to get.
Possible visit to Xen or Combine Overworld.
Tau cannon from HL1

DO NOT WANT:

Alyx to die.
Hats, god no, just no hats.
a 2 hour singleplayer like EP1&EP2 had.
 
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