I noted the issues with gearbox near the end of the borderlands 2 cycle and put them on my ‘I’ll buy it when it drops down to under $10 for everything’ category.
I have posted a fully compiled list for 2 that put me off further first day spending posted somewhere. I’m sure I could find it if needed.
Same. I loved 2 but the DLC started to get… dicey. Pre-Sequel was fun, but then kind of a let down and made me realize how stale the gameplay was and how dev practices at Gearbox were shifting. I ended up never playing 3.
I’d be curious to see your list, and how it matches up with my own half-remembered gripes.
Instead of going to find it… I’ll just do my best to list it from memory (and it’s not going to be complete)
ammo economy in general was ruined from the first game. The entire ‘guardian’ legendary weapon set were removed, and most class mods no longer have any ammo regeneration unless certain characters. Lots of guns now shoot multiple bullets per shot, making this problem even worse.
Backpack space was lowered from the first game, while equippables was increased. Overall space was increased with the bank included… but not by much. I think the difference is 2.
The rock, paper, scissors health types first introduced in the general knoxx DLC were really leaned into really hard, which means it’s very handy to have a weapon of each element type on your person.
These three were my major issues. It’s a LOOTER SHOOTER. I need to LOOT and SHOOT. These three points made it more of a chore to do the base game loop at higher levels, especially considering that most characters had only a couple preferred weapon types. Combining all three points meant I was usually balancing 3 weapons of different types so the ammo didn’t overlap with different elements so I could effectively shoot fleshy, shielded, and armored enemies… and then sometimes slag.
There are some other gripes about the skill trees being overall worse than the first game, the DLC’s eluding to the best fights from 1 and being really disappointing (looking at you Crawmerex), and the lack of any real changes in the enemies from the first game. Sure there were plenty of new skins, but the actions didn’t change at all.
I’m sure there were more, but these points were enough to show me that the dev team was moving in a direction I wasn’t particularly excited to play. The story and most boss fights were way better than 1’s. So there was some positive growth, but in terms of overall gameplay I felt that the game was a massive downturn from where I would have liked to see the game go.
I haven’t played borderlands since 1, so I’m maybe a bad person to judge it, but I like the removal of mini maps in general. It helps me focus on the 3d environment in front of me.
2 is peak borderlands. I couldn’t bring myself to finish pre sequel or 3 because the stories sucked. Honestly I’m burnt on the looter shooter gameplay too, so I’ll probably hold off on 4 till it’s dirt cheap on a key site.
I distinctly remember playing co-op and having the second player open the map in borderlands 1 while driving around as a pseudo mini map. As much as ‘those were the days’, I don’t yearn for them back.
Now, having various UI elements as toggles I could totally get behind.
If this is true I’d expect it to be tied to a new piece of hardware launched at the same time, steam controller 2 or deckard to demonstrate some new synergy between gameplay and valve wanting to push groundbreaking tech for hl 3
I remember watching him like 6 years ago and he was pretty certain hl3 was around the corner. With him, it’s always around the corner. Eventually he will be right, if it comes out ever.
Edit: Lmao it was actually 10 years ago, the video is private now but I posted it on my steam profile cause I was a hyped teen.
But until then all those leakers, dataminers, third class publications, youtubers and everybody else who profits from the attention these leaks naturally drive can fuck right off. The current Valve leaks news cycle is so fucking annoying. Be it Deckard, Deck, HL, whatever else.
Apart from that i was pissed at Valve for the cliffhanger at end of EP2 with no follow up. But that was 15 years ago. Seriously its been over 10 years since i decided that i just stop care about this franchise. Still played Black Mesa when it finally hit 1.0. That was nice a throwback. But HL3? I just dont care anymore. Might check it out if it ever gets released or i dont. idk
If the cliffhanger at the end of HL:2 Episode 2 annoyed you, the one at the end of Half Life: Alyx will annoy you even more because it not only returns to that moment but the G Man uses reality warping shenanigans to overwrite what happens in it, and replaces it with a different cliffhanger.
Son of a bitch and his unforeseen consequences, indeed.
On the bright side, this also circumvents the need for the original events of Half Life 3 to happen, since Valve has consistently said they were not willing to make it as it was originally drafted (especially now since Marc Laidlaw leaked/released the entire plot online). So now I guess they’re free to do something new with the story direction… Whatever that might be.
I sort of get it, but also “Half Life game ends with G Man time-freeze BS and a random abrupt cliffhanger that will not be resolved for years, if ever” isn’t exactly an unexpected outcome for anyone who’s interested in Half Life.
You may as well just watch a Youtube LP of Alyx anyway, since I imagine the majority of players do not have the equipment to play it themselves.
I’ll believe HL:3 is real when it is for sale, purchased by me, and played in it’s entirety. And even then it might just be a particularly vivid delusion.
HL:3 is gaming’s dark matter. Until all other possibilities are definitively ruled out, it’s not HL:3.
Considering every Half Life showcased Valve’s new tech in the Freeman narrative, one could argue Alyx was our Half Life 3. It had everything: the signature storyline, new gameplay, new tech. What more are we expecting from Half Life 3?
Rumors I’ve seen are they are going all in on the physics. Like, every object in the game has material properties like flammability that will react differently in the environment. Some rumors about some procedural generation tech being involved as well, but not to what extent it’s being used
You may be onto something. If we take away HL: Lost Coast, and both HL: Deathmatch versions, there are 9 titles.
With the rumoured title code named HL:X it makes me wonder how they’re going to announce it (granted these rumours are true).
I don’t know why would it have this mythical status. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Half-Life 1 and loved its remake Black Mesa even more because of how they transformed Xen into something actually likable to a point Xen was almost favorite part for me. Half-Life 2, while it was great game by any metric. What do people expect from it to be “something more”? For me System Shock 2 and Deus Ex from years prior are significantly more advanced and more immersive games. I could almost say the same for Bioshock which was inspired by those two. It’s only that much they can do to the game to still be Half-Life while elevating it to something “more”. Like, if they keep it just a shooter like it was, many might complain it’s too basic and if they add too many complex things to it like inventory, skills and leveling, it might not be Half-Life anymore as us old folks know and remember it. So, what to do? I have no doubts it’ll be an interesting experience either way, but people need to ground their expectations because of the above reasons.
Valve can surprise or even shock me with something new, a ground breaking innovation, but I really have no expectations.
Half-Life: Alyx showed that Valve still knows how to make a great campaign shooter, and it’s not like we’re spoiled for choice in that genre right now. At this point, a solid Half-Life sequel that doesn’t push the envelope would still be amazing.
I mean, sure, but that was VR specific game. Which I found mod for regular play with mouse and keyboard, but there is no friggin way I’m paying 60€ for something I’ll have to mod and play in its unofficial form. So I skipped Alyx entirely. I don’t care about VR and never will.
You’d lose a lot of the effect in mouse and keyboard anyway. Each combat encounter has to be tuned very differently from non-VR. But the point is that they still have a very good understanding of how to make this kind of game.
Did you actually play the game? Because if you watched the ending you’d see that it was absolutely was NOT supposed to be HL3. Instead it was setting up HL3…not that I believe this rumor. Not until it’s actually announced.
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