It wouldn’t surprise me if Portal 3 is released at some point. I’m skeptical, but I’m not outruling it. The game is whacky enough that there are probably a lot of interesting and cool things that can be implemented into a worthy successor.
I am, on the other hand, utterly convinced that HL3 is not going to happen. The previous two were groundbreaking, stretching limits of what one can do with a physics engine. I’m having a hard time imagining that it can be pulled off a 3rd time, simply because I am unable to imagine any sory of content that would all: a) fit with the series so that it still feels like a HL game
b) interesting enough to allow for the innovation that the previous two games had
c) good enough to justify a new game rather than just a tech demo
I sincerely hope that my opinion on the matter is simply a matter of failure of imagine, and that a good HL successor is released at some point, but sadly I think I’m right on this one.
Half-Life: Alyx is mostly what I hoped we’d get from HL3, inasmuch as it hits your points a & b for sure, and IMHO c (though I know that’s not agreed on by everyone). It had great action and expository setpieces (avoiding spoilers), and the (albeit relatively simple) puzzles definitely added something to Half-Life that really worked for me.
Unfortunately it didn’t solve all VR issues (melee being an obvious one), and not least of which the cost. I played it on a cheap (~$100), janky old WMR headset, but not everyone can do that without vomiting, so a great PC and good headset are a hefty price, which is probably the biggest hurdle for a full-scale 3 in VR. Especially considering there just aren’t many other games worth making that investment in, IMHO. I played the hell out of Alyx, a little of a few other games…but Alyx was the pinnacle of what VR could do for me.
Alyx did what most Valve games do, it advanced the industry. It is absolutely a half life game and it fits but it isn’t HL3. It isn’t that grandiose.
For people who accuse it of being a glorified tech demo, well, that’s exactly what Half Life 1 and 2 are. The sole reason for the existence of HL2 is just to sell the source engine to devs and to push Steam forward. It is a tech demo. Its puzzles are tech demos.
What Alyx did is implement proper gunplay and looting mechanics and really showcased how possible it is to tell a story in VR without taking your POV from you. I’d argue that there still isn’t a single VR game that nails one of the foundational pillars of Alyx as much as Valve did.
IIRC, Valve pretty much admitted that they really have no interest in making games anymore, unless they have a interesting technology to play with and learn, and the game is an excuse for that.
Thats why Alyx got made, cause they wanted to play with VR.
I only ever beat it back in the day by using the game guide lol! That was long enough ago that the game guide was an actual paper book I had to find at a store and pay real money for! Well, my mom paid for it anyway lol
My mom liked playing Nintendo games as much as I did so if there was a game she wanted to see the end of we would end up getting a Nintendo Power or a standalone game guide that was supposedly purchased for me lol
I didn’t have a guide, but got stuck for days at the part where you have to super bomb the glass tube. I just did it out of desperation and couldn’t believe it worked! A similar thing happened 5 years earlier in Simon’s Quest when you have to hold crouch while holding the blue crystal. Come to think of it, Super Metroid might just be the last game in which I got stuck like that before I had access to the internet to look these things up.
I was well into adulthood when that came out. If you want to make me feel old, remind me that the Atari 5200 came out 42 years ago. And almost no one bought it. And the people who did regretted it. And now it’s only old people like me who remember it even existed.
I’m in my 40’s. The dad of one of my childhood friends is in his 60’s. He (the dad) grew up playing arcade games. He’s not just still playing them, that man and his boomer disposable income has had like every console that’s ever been made. He passes previous Gen consoles on to families in his community that he knows have little income when the next Gen comes out.
He’s not just still playing games, he’s promoting them for the people least likely to be able to play
Personally I feel that games are just one form of entertainment among many, it’s not all that uncommon for people to have points in their life where binging tv-series or reading books can feel more novel and interesting. It’s also possible that one finds a new hobby or interest that develops in to a obsession taking most of the free time with it.
Sure as an adult you’ll have more responsibilities and less free time to play but I feel that at least for millenials and zoomers gaming in some form or another will persist throught our lives. For some it may be few hours a day, for others it may be few hours a month but it’ll still feel good to pick up that new/old title and have some fun.
One of my favorite small Skyrim mods distributed a wedding ring to random nameless NPCs, most of whom were bandits. Not quite the same, but it still added a little depth to encounters and would usually make me say “oh dammit” when I found one. I wish I could find the damn thing.
That’s the one! Thank you so much! That’s going back into my load order - and I really like the other one you linked. Well, not like, but you understand. Totally going to give that a shot as well.
When you’re sneaking around a ruin and draw your poisoned bow on a bandit’s head only to hear her talk about she hates this life but has to feed her two hungry daughters, it hits differently
A classic, for sure. That’s already in my load order along with a bunch more of his (NPCs react to Invisibility/Necromancy are also good) - JaySerpa does excellent work.
If the bandit had a wedding ring in their inventory, that’s no indication that they are the original owner. You have good odds of avenging the death of whoever they took it off of.
True. I remember one time, though, I’d cleared out Silent Moons Camp and was looting the bodies - I found four or five rings. They couldn’t have ALL stolen them, right? I guess part of the fun is making up your own story. But it made me FEEL something after years of clearing bandit camps (I felt like a monster, but still)
I mean I definitely play them a lot less, even when I find myself with some time it’s difficult to get invested when I know I won’t have more time going forward. But I do still play them, and I do still love them. Card games board games video games they are still a ton of fun with friends I just don’t have the ability to dedicate entire days to them anymore
I find myself with some time it’s difficult to get invested when I know I won’t have more time going forward.
I feel the same sometimes. I’m so disappointed with games like God of War and Doom. Between my gaming sessions, I forget how their talents and upgrades systems work, and generally I have no interest in them. Nowadays everything wants to be an RPG, and throw as many mechanics at their players as possible. But I just want to have some fun after work, not obtain a PhD in game design.
Returning to a game you’ve left unfinished or just havent played in a long while can really feel like leaving ones comfort zone. Funny thing though is that its often a lot easier than one might think once you actually gather enough motivation to sit down to it.
When it comes to light rpg mechanics, those are usually designed so that you can’t really go wrong with them. They’re more of a problem when you’re a “minmaxer” looking to “optimize fun out of the game” as then it’s really easy to start overthinking about these things.
I definitely play them a lot less, even when I find myself with some time it’s difficult to get invested when I know I won’t have more time going forward.
This is it. I have less time now as a working adult to play games, and I am single with no responsibility to a partner or kids. Heck, I also find few times to read books and I have a book from library due soon to return. I am a bit traditional with wanting to read books but I might try audiobook at some point.
Or what if they prefer things other than playing video games? My buddy’s sons really aren’t into video games and he’s one of those dudes who budgets to buy new games.
That is a very healthy way of thinking (though lets discuss again when they play Justin Bieber, romantic adventures themed VR game with tons of buyable accessories and asks you money to buy virtual Justin Bieber signed sneakers to impress some virtual girls)
Let them play them! My son has changed games many times. Sometimes he gets me into something I didn’t like at first but I end up liking because we game together.
Closest I’ve come to this is how I’ve overplayed the few games I’ve been playing recently and it’s started to become boring because of it. Though, I think I’ve ended up addicted enough to where I couldn’t fully quit games as a hobby, even if I wanted.
I would put this in a game as an untracked quest except if you really dig around it was actually someone that killed the parent and started living as him so if you revert save and keep him alive eventually the kid will show up and some manner of altercation will happen depending on how you completed relevant tracked quests
I would just subtly add pressure to turn the main character into a necromancer, resurrecting the good people they killed and trying to make good on their wrongs, whilst slowly succumbing to the dark magic that will ultimately consume them and turn them into the worst bloodmage villain that teletubbyland has ever seen
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