Half-Life 2 episode 3

[GenDonuts]

What in the world is going on with Valve. I mean I know they just released Left4Dead but come on. I mean when the heck are they going to release info. on episode 3. Valve come on whats the deal, i mean i know you want to make a great game but does it really take this long to release episode 3 info. or at least a trailer. I mean I know more about the new Duke Nukem game then yours. RELEASE SOMETHING ALREADY VALVE! What do you guys think?

 

:banana:

 

:starwars:

[inkheart449]

That's Valve for you though, can never do anything on time

[jaosals42]

lol! So true, inkheart. If you could describe Valve with one word, it's impromptu. :rolleyes:

[WrathOfDeadguy]

On the other hand, it's Valve, so it will more than likely be worth the wait. Some of their games are better than others, but they've yet to release a stinker. I'd rather wait an extra year or two (or five) and get my money's worth than wait six months and get a half-assed, bug-ridden abortion. It is in the pipe- Valve may not be speedy, but they are reliable, and they do make quality games with great follow-on support.

 

We already have a pretty good idea of where it'll take place and what the general objectives are going to be; we've even seen images in both Ep1 and Ep2 of what some of the maps are going to look like. I'm pretty sure Ep3 is still going to be on the Source engine, so it won't be visually all that different, and I think I'd rather be surprised by any new enemies that appear (although I'm still hoping to see that four-legged Combine synth from the Citadel in HL2). Still, it'd be nice to know how the project's coming along.

[jaosals42]

Sorry, WoD, but even with Episode 2, there are features that need to be improved with the game. This may be a bit large of a request, but if you're going to spend 2+ years on a game in modern days, you might as well include a cover system. It has been long enough the game hasn't had one (it's 2009 people!). Plus, while the game is not meant to be played in third-person, it still has a cheat for in and in third-person, there is nothing but a gray body of nothingness. Half life 1 had a body that actually had a true shape and real color. How long would it take for them to make a simple body for one person? (At least they relatively fixed thirdperson in Ep. 2 with aligning it in the proper direction.)

 

Also, while some people aren't bothered by it, Gordon Freeman needs a voice. A character could ask him something, there'd be a pause, and soon the character asking him the question would say "That's a good idea, Gordon", and he will still not have said anything. We're a little too far into gaming history for us to still have things as fake as that. Plus, some AI still need to be improved. Enemies and allies alike still crouch fruitlessly on the ground when a grenade is rolled next to them, rather than running away. Then it explodes and the enemy or ally is killed, even leading to certain instances where your only rebel allies for the level die and your left alone, just because they lacked the properly fixed AI to run away.

 

Another thing, which really isn't an issue with the earlier Half-Life games, is that with Ep. 3 you should have the ability to make choices in that game, particularly since

Eli and Kleiner had conflicting opinions on what needed to be done with the portal technology that is expected to make an appearance in Ep. 3

. I can understand not having choices in earlier games due to the situations that took place during those games

(do you really have a choice to get out of a city that's about to be blown up?)

 

 

Those are really the only things that I expect to see with Ep. 3. If they add/fix those features in the game, I'll more than agree the wait for the game was worth it. :)

[GenDonuts]

jaosals does have a good point. I would like to see that and better graphics. At least the same as Left4Dead, because to be honest it looked pretty real.

 

:banana:

 

:starwars:

[WrathOfDeadguy]

I doubt that Valve would opt not to use the updated Source engine from L4D. It wouldn't make any sense not to. EP1 and EP2 took advantage of the new lighting effects introduced with Lost Coast, so why shouldn't EP3 benefit from the latest round of advancements? I'd love to see Combine soldiers stumble when shot in the leg, among other things- the updated physics alone would be a huge improvement.

 

I agree completely that there should be a choice towards the conclusion of EP3- The ending would feel a bit weak without one, and it would be a nice little reference to the way Half-Life ended. Since Half-Life 3 is all but a certainty, however, only one choice would be canonical, just as in Half-Life. Since we're talking about relatively modern graphics technology, I'd also be expecting more than just a whole mass of enemies and a fade-to-black for that non-canonical ending- let's see some stuff go horribly, world-breakingly wrong if we make that choice. :)

 

IMHO, if there is a cover system, I'd rather see one like Mass Effect's- most cover systems feel overly clunky and require separate button presses to activate, which can be a real pain in the posterior if an enemy flanks you because then you're stuck where you are, exposed. If it isn't context-sensitive and tied in with the regular movement controls, then I don't want to see it at all because I won't use it. If it is, however, it'd be quite handy and a great addition to the game.

 

About the grenades- most of the time, the Combine troops do run away, unless their pathfinding would route them through the blast (in which case they blabber a few last words and hunker down). Sometimes they might have been able to survive by running a little bit, though, and that could be addressed, but most of the time when they just sit there they would have died anyway. It'd be great if one of them could jump on the 'nade to save the rest of their buddies (or jump out of the way), or if they could throw them back at you, like in the one scripted event inside the silo in EP2- those would be nice improvements. The allied AIs are a bit dumber than the enemies, however- the rebels will just stand there and eat it. Their "follow Freeman" scripting seems to override their survival instincts, which is a shame because you can often take a partial hit which would kill the whole rest of your gang. That does need fixing, and quite a bit of it. That said, the AI really isn't any dumber than in any other game I've played; everybody's AIs could use an IQ boost. Or two. Or three.

 

Gordon's voice (or lack thereof), like you said, is down to preference. At this point, since he hasn't said a word for four stories running, I'd say leave it be. To suddenly have him speaking now would be inconsistent; they could've given him a speaking part in HL2, EP1, or EP2, but chose not to. The entire series works the same way- not a single protagonist in Half-Life thus far has spoken a single word while playing the leading role. Barney speaks in HL2 and EP1, but not in Blue Shift. If another expansion further down the line features a non-Gordon PC but has a Gordon cameo, I'd love to hear what he has to say.

 

Oh, and yes- a body for third-person would be nice. Very nice, indeed. A true third-person camera on a toggle button would be nice, too.

[ZDP4711]

Honestly, Valve's almost as bad as Bethesda Softworks for squandering information about Works in Progress, so no manner of begging would make info pop up. However, my guess is that they're going to update the source engine before giving us an Episode 3. Despite being a solid engine, it is getting outdated nowadays.

[GenDonuts]

You are right about the updating of the source mod. As for the info. they really need 2 release something soon especially since its supposed to come out in December of this year! :blink: :mellow: :confused: