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

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I'm pretty content after reading this now. I'd already accepted we weren't getting episode 3 long ago so it's nice to read what the plans actually where . I'd have accepted the same for the conclusion of Shenmue as well before it was improbably resurrected.

Shame we'll never get to play this game but at least I know what was supposed to happen next.
 
Never thought I would go to bed with the thread in a decent place and wake up with people calling fans that wanted the announced third part of a game "entitled." Suddenly, we're the bad guys here? The fuck outta here.
 
I like how the story serves as a conclusion for HL2 and also as a narrative of his experience at Valve the last few years.
 
HandsomeCharles said:
No, if you paid for episode 3 then you'd be entitled to episode 3 (or a refund). Nobody paid for it, nobody is entitled to it.
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Pagusas said:
You are very wrong sir, and that type of thinking will screw you over in life.
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They said that they're making 3 episodes, a full story arc, you can't see why fans feel entitled to the full arc?

Business is business, it's totally legal that they didn't do the whole arc, we didn't pay for it. But it doesn't mean fans can't be pissed at them, it's what they promised, it's what we bought into, we're entitled to it, even if not legally.

Oh, and no, being pissy at people who don't deliver what's promised is how you don't get screwed over in life.
 
Man...after reading this, I feel...content. Like I'm in a better place now not having to worry in the few parts in my head I'd Half Life 3 will ever be a thing. Good to know what would have happened then to wonder, thanks Marc.
 
The "entitlement" discussion surrounding Ep3/HL3 have always been weird.

That Valve contractually doesn't owe the fans a new game is a given, that doesn't need to be pointed out really.

But that we shouldn't be able to voice our dissapointment that one of the biggest gaming IP's ends on such a cliff hanger, and no information is given about the future of the series, that's just plain weird. There's nothing about that that's entitlement. That's just a natural reaction to the expectations that Valve deliberately created. They can say that they regret doing so, but it still doesn't undo it.

They can very well chose to ignore it, and just move on to whatever they want to do. But no paying customer of the previous title should apologize for saying/thinking "well that sucks". That's still not entitlement, at least not in any negative or unfair way.

Half Life is not an important series for me. Steam is more important. But when you know that they have the resources to do both, it's ok to say that this sucks. Which I think it does.
 
DeathoftheEndless said:
So fans are entitled to a sequel because the last one ended on a cliffhanger?
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Episode 1 and 2 were sold as part of a trilogy. It's not entitlement to be pissed that the final chapter you were promised never came to be. And it didn't NOT come to be because people weren't buying. It didn't come to be because the company struck gold selling virtual hats and decided the fans who were there supporting the company since the beginning were no longer important enough to bother fulfilling their promises to.

That's why people are pissed. We made a deal, and Valve didn't hold up their end.
 
Good on valve for saving PC gaming instead of catering to the entitled fans of a dead franchise. People should just know when to cut their losses, regardless of what a publisher of Valve's caliber and pedigree says or does.
 
StalkerUKCG said:
So this is episode 3 and then HL3 would be alex working for G-Man and destroying the combine.
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Nah, HL3 would've still had Gordon Freeman as the main character probably. The Alyx stuff would probably be either Valve working towards an Alyx spin-off or, more likely, setting Alyx up as an antagonist of sorts. The G-Man is heavily implied in the episodes to be working for an evil entity, while the Vortigaunts are the forces of good.
 
Trey said:
Good on valve for saving PC gaming instead of catering to the entitled fans of a dead franchise. People should just know when to cut their losses, regardless of what a publisher of Valve's caliber says or does.
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It's dead because of Valve's own choice, not by any external factors, and they can do both if they just want to.
 
DeathoftheEndless said:
Said fans are idiots, who don't understand that Steam is a much greater contribution to gaming than Half-Life.



So fans are entitled to a sequel because the last one ended on a cliffhanger?



It would be decent of them, but its not owed.
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No one is saying Valve has a contractual obligation to its fans to release the game. Even so, ending a game on a cliff hanger (or any piece of media really) and not following through is absolutely a shitty thing to do. Calling fans entitled as a way to write off their desires for the sequel is entirely unreasonable.

Stop being a dick.
 
ebullientprism said:
I am genuinely curious, why was this posted now?

Force an acknowledgement from Valve? Have the fans stop bugging him? Give people some closure?

Or is it just to tell everyone that it is dead?
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He was working at Valve up until 2016. I guess he thought that he should wait a year before releasing it, so it won't seem like an act of revenge.
 
Hero_of_the_Day said:
Episode 1 and 2 were sold as part of a trilogy. It's not entitlement to be pissed that the final chapter you were promised never came to be. And it didn't NOT come to be because people weren't buying. It didn't come to be because the company struck gold selling virtual hats and decided the fans who were there supporting the company since the beginning were no longer important enough to bother fulfilling their promises to.

That's why people are pissed. We made a deal, and Valve didn't hold up their end.
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The worst part is that they just went dark with it. No information, just tidbits that something was in the works. Valve never had the decency to tell us that the Half Life series was on hold, or was not a priority at this moment. Pretty much leaving millions of fans in the dark for 10 years.

I can imagine lots of reactions if HBO just ended Game of Thrones now, before the season finale. That is pretty much what happened for their fans.
 
Fuchsdh said:
Gordon and Alyx set the Borealis on a suicide run. The G-Man pulls out Alyx for his own purposes, and the Vortigaunts save Freeman. The implication with the last bit is that while they destroy the Borealis and deny its tech to the Combine, it doesn't necessarily do any real damage to the Combine, and it sounds like Freeman got sent further forward in time. He passes the torch onto the new leaders of the rebellion, which sounds like it is still ongoing in some form.
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Thanks very much Fuchssdh...damn that sounds like not much closure at all. I would have loved to see an actual resolution for G Man once and for all.

Ushojax said:
Alyx, Mossman and Gordon bicker over what to do with the Borealis, whether to destroy it or try to take it for the Resistance. Mossman wants to use it but Alyx disagrees and shoots her. Honouring her promise to Eli she aims the Borealis at a massive Combine staging area like a weird time-travel missile, but it bounces off the Combine like it's nothing. As it explodes, G-Man rescues Alyx (spiting Gordon) and the Vortigaunts rescue Gordon. In the future the resistance continues in some form, but the Combine are not defeated.
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Thanks very much Ushojax, good to see you again. I'm surprised at how much the plot feels more akin to an episode rather than a full length game? The conclusion seems like a set up for another episode to me.

TheLostBigBoss said:
The Borealis has a teleportation device on it that is able to travel both time and space.

Gordan, Alyx, and Dr. Mossman are all on it as they activate it, and realize the potential this device has as they inadvertently start warping around on the ship.

Alyx, wanting to follow her fathers final wishes, debates destroying the ship with Dr. Mossman, who sees this ship as the only chance to actually defeat the combine.

Alyx kills Mossman, mainly because she never actually trusted her and always resented her for being a double agent. Alyx locks in on what she thinks is the Combines base of operations for Earth, and basically makes a mini-citadel nuke that is traveling towards the Combines base.

In the fleeting seconds, the G-Man interrupts these events and takes Alyx away. Gordan witnesses that the "base", is actually a Dyson sphere, which is a megastructure that completely surrounds a star to harness all of it's potential energy, something only the most advance civilizations are able to create.

This basically means that Alyx was an unknowing sleeper agent for the G-Man, and her plan and goal are pointless, and the ship won't actually do anything other than be destroyed, Mossman was right.

In the final seconds, the Vortigaunt intercept Freeman, similar to what they did in Episode 2, and save him, bringing him to an undisclosed location on Earth at an undisclosed future date.

TL:DR. The Combine quite possibly are the most powerful civilization in all of time and space in all realities , The G-Man's plans are to destroy the Borealis and it's technology for unknown reasons, it's unknown if humanity and the resistance was successful in it's uprising on Earth.
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Very kind of you Boss, thanks so much for the write up!! All this feels a bit cryptic to me and less substantial than a full sequel (plotwise), feels like a second to last episode with all the unresolved stuff at the end?
 
That ending and adventure sounds so great. I simply don't understand why valve couldn't treat their fans with more respect. Half life launched steam. Steam likely would never be what it is today without half life.

I'm going to go outside and kick rocks.
 
Ros8105 said:
Calling it "entitlement" seems pretty dismissive.
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Context matters. It's one thing if you aired your grievances rationally, but resorting to hyperbole and yelling fuck you Valve over and over again doesn't really make anyone look good.

I get being angry. I've written a post in this thread about my own personal involvement with this franchise and I'm about as upset as everyone here. Still, we don't know what truly went on behind the scenes and the overreaction in this thread only reinforces the negative stereotype Neogaf has with developers.
 
HandsomeCharles said:
No, if you paid for episode 3 then you'd be entitled to episode 3 (or a refund). Nobody paid for it, nobody is entitled to it.
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If you paid for episode two in a series of at three then you are entitled to episode two in a series of three, not just episode two in a series of two. Maybe trusting the promise of the third episode coming wasn't exactly the most mature thing to do, but an unfulfilled promise is an unfulfilled promise.

In analogy, if you were a big software company and you promised your big business customer three interoperable programs paid for on delivery and then decided to not ship the third one for no reason except deciding to make money on something else, you could end up in the legal right, but your relations with original customer would sour.
 
Uhyve said:
They said that they're making 3 episodes, a full story arc, you can't see why fans feel entitled to the full arc?

Business is business, it's totally legal that that the didn't do the whole arc, we didn't pay for it. But it doesn't mean fans can't be pissed at them, it's what they promised, it's what we bought into, we're entitled to it, even if not legally.
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I understand the sentiment entirely. I want the 3rd episode, but I can make the distinction between what I want and what I am owed. I am not owed anything, as I got exactly what I paid for.
 
NealMcCauley said:
If the last third was supposed to be as crazy as my mind is imagining it, then damn. Would have been amazing to see if they could pull it off.
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I'm imagining the big warp at the end and seeing the Dyson Sphere up close with time stopped as G-Man appears, and you get this great big view of it. It seems so insane
 
Baron_Calamity said:
If the G-man is some future version of Gordon created as a side effect to the Borealis, he didn't need to save Gordon, he already knows he survives. Maybe the G-man was created when Gordon dies on board the Borealis when it does its space time suicide bomb thing. The Vort grabbing Gordon was an attempt to stop the G-man from being created in the first place. Just nonesense I know but something to think about for the next few decades without HL.
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Nice nonsense to think about. I like your theorizing but don't think that would be the case. It would have huge ramifications on G-Man as a character.
 
OK, so they announced episode 3 and shit happened. At this point Valve should just announce Half Life is dead and let fans move on. Like Bioware did with Mass Effect

But they don't even say the words "Half - Life" anymore, they made this situation even weirder.
 
tci said:
The worst part is that they just went dark with it. No information, just tidbits that something was in the works. Valve never had the decency to tell us that the Half Life series was on hold, or was not a priority at this moment. Pretty much leaving millions of fans in the dark for 10 years.
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Yup. If Valve doesn't want to make another Half-Life game, fine, I get it. It sucks and it's disappointing, but the truth hurts a lot of the time. They're a business and they're going to do what they think is best for business.

It's the silent treatment regarding anything Half-Life-related that's far more infuriating. Whether it's intentional or not, it comes across as spiteful to their fanbase.
 
sirap said:
Context matters. It's one thing if you aired your grievances rationally, but resorting to hyperbole and yelling fuck you Valve over and over again doesn't really make anyone look good.
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I just searched "fuck" in this thread, I only saw 13 "fuck Valve" posts in 29 pages. Essentially negligible for a Valve thread. Saying that people are "yelling fuck you Valve over and over again" is the actual hyperbole.
 
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