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

Marc.....

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Yeah, ok.

One franchise has been active since day 1 aside from the break after resurrection shit the bed, even then AVP happened. The other, not so much.
 
you make it sound like it isn't a common practice like...i dunno...the entire marketing industry. it's not good but it's not unusual either.

people seem to have built this strawman of valve that it's some kind of worker run co-operative not interested in profit like every other company
I don't think anyone really thought that for atleast a couple years now.
 
So how do you guys suppose valve feels about this?

Most of original Half-Life team Valve have left i feel like. So the people who are there have no direct relation with it. Gabe abandoned his first born child. The child that got him to where he is today. He doesn't give a fuuuuuuck.
 
The fact that you never beat the combine kind of pisses me off. In a movie, it's fine because you are watching the protagonists doing it without any of your input. But in a video game you are playing the silent protagonist and now that I know that none of what I have done matters in the first place, I might as well not play this series ever again, because I know that the villains win in the first place. I hate that shit so much. Fuck off with that.

As far as I can tell from this outline Gordon Freeman and the Resistance succeeded in cutting off the Combine forces on Earth from reinforcements. The Earth based Combine wanted the Borealis so that they could use it to reestablish contact with the off world Combine but Alyx and Freeman hijacked and destroyed that technology.

The last we saw Earth was in open rebellion and had destroyed the main Combine Citadel, so there's a good chance Freemen (or you, the player) saved the planet. Not sure how that isn't a satisfying victory.
 
GOD FUCKING DAMN.

From one cliffhanger to another cliffhanger. Only this cliffhanger leaves you wondering, wtf did we even do this for?

This was setting up HL3 hard.
 
So how do you guys suppose valve feels about this?

Well, I'm not sure they're even making it.

However, if they are, chances are the story is not going to be the same as what Marc laid out for us. They will need to change it to maintain the mystery, or else, if it's unchanged the hardcore player base who has read this synopsis will know exactly what will happen, and you will then lose the mystery of the story.

If Valve is making the game, and to this point used the synopsis that Marc has written, I'd imagine they are having serious discussions about changing the story. But like I said, I doubt Valve is making it, so I don't think they particularly care.
 
Most of original Half-Life team Valve have left i feel like. So the people who are there have no direct relation with it. Gabe abandoned his first born child. The child that got him to where he is today. He doesn't give a fuuuuuuck.

Funny you should say that. Circa 2010:

However, "I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like, and it's something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on."

And Newell knows exactly what pushes those emotional buttons. Asked what scares Valve's gamers the most, he replied: "The death of their children. The fading of their own abilities."

Mission achieved, Gabe.
 
I feel like I haven't see Gabe in a long time.

I mean, he wasn't that common of a sighting to begin with, but now seems like a recluse.

Unless he did some DOTA guest speaker thing? I have no idea.
 
I stopped caring about this a long time ago but its still nice to have some sort of closure, even if it does finish on another cliffhanger. A Half Life 3 with Alyx as the protagonist could have been very cool.
 
So how do you guys suppose valve feels about this?

This is the company that never bothered to communicate with their customers directly for several days after a possible user information leak during a Christmas sale while everyone and their mother was demanding clarity & clarification.

They especially won't give a shit about this.
 
Well, I'm not sure they're even making it.

However, if they are, chances are the story is not going to be the same as what Marc laid out for us. They will need to change it to maintain the mystery, or else, if it's unchanged the hardcore player base who has read this synopsis will know exactly what will happen, and you will then lose the mystery of the story.

If Valve is making the game, and to this point used the synopsis that Marc has written, I'd imagine they are having serious discussions about changing the story. But like I said, I doubt Valve is making it, so I don't think they particularly care.

My personal preference would be to use Laidlaw's plot but as a section of a larger game, like a full Half Life 3. Truncate it as needed, but it could be 1/3 or 1/4 of a larger experience maybe. Another option would be to make this game as Episode 3, but announce it alongside episode 4 or whatever is coming next.

This is just hopes and dreams of course lol, I just really want to see some/all of what is written here actually in a game.
 
Had a cameo at The International
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Thats what he probably looks like right now....

Also, that crowbat video.

You can tell when Gabe starts saying "I have nothing to say about Episode 3", I think is when they have officially given up on the game. Right here.

https://youtu.be/Jt0w9YP_wZ0?t=2m25s

This is when Half Life has officially died. Doesn't want to lie to people and lead them on. But doesn't want to get them pissed and say it's cancelled. So just says he has nothing to say, and thats pretty much his only statement going forward.
 
I always wanted HL3 to end with Gordon saying his name, or even better, cutting off just before he says something. Sigh, only in my dreams how.
 
Im confused why are people saying that there wont be another Half Life because someone posted the plot?
I mean, yeah. We've gotten to the point where the major creative force behind Half-Life's story can just post the plot of an unreleased/cancelled game without any fear of repercussions. This game has been dead for so long he's probably not even under NDA. It's over.
 
Hl3 would never live up to the expectations

So? People still would've had it. 10 years of nothing except winks and nods about the game's existence only to end up with what we have now is the worst part about it. People might say nothing at all would've been worse, but this was mostly in line with what people thought was going to happen, so to see it be what most thought it would be simply not come into existence is worse, because it's right there.

I know the guy's trying to put that Genie back into a Bottle now (either because someone told him to or he didn't realize how big it'd get), but it's really too late now. It is what it is. It's what people wanted all along, and they won't get it now.
 
Im confused why are people saying that there wont be another Half Life because someone posted the plot?

Imagine you see a movie. Then you watch the sequel. Both written by the same guy. You wait for the final movie, the one thing that will answer the questions and wrap up a lot of plot points and resolve the cliff hanger.

You wait 10 years.

10 years, and nothing. Not a fucking peep.

Then the guy who wrote those first 2 movies just comes out of the blue and says "fuck it, here was the plot to movie 3."

Now, what do you think is happening here? Does this give you confidence that movie 3 is being made or will be made?
 
Imagine you see a movie. Then you watch the sequel. Both written by the same guy. You wait for the final movie, the one thing that will answer the questions and wrap up a lot of plot points and resolve the cliff hanger.

You wait 10 years.

10 years, and nothing. Not a fucking peep.

Then the guy who wrote those first 2 movies just comes out of the blue and says "fuck it, here was the plot to movie 3."

Now, what do you think is happening here? Does this give you confidence that movie 3 is being made or will be made?

Seriously. Anyone who believes the half life series is still being worked on is just putting themselves through the cycles of denial again.
 
Im confused why are people saying that there wont be another Half Life because someone posted the plot?

The majority of people involved in making HL what it was have left Valve. Marc heavily implying that a lot of them were completely marginalized by "New Valve." There's no game coming.

Maybe a heavily monetized L4D3 if they can figure it out but that's it.
 
So how do you guys suppose valve feels about this?

I doubt they really care. Sure they still own the IP, but they have long abandoned it and have shifted focus to other business models.

I'd really love them to sell the IP to a group that really cares about the franchise such as the Black Mesa guys (Crowbar Collective ).....I could see them doing something awesome with it and if they need the additional funds to do so, I would back them 100%
 
I doubt they really care. Sure they still own the IP, but they have long abandoned it and have shifted focus to other business models.

I'd really love them to sell the IP to a group that really cares about the franchise

Technically Valve released The Lab last year, which is just a VR tech demo, of course, not here trying to argue anything crazy, but they have released something in the HL universe relatively recently. Abandoned is not completely accurate.

/pedantry
 
So who/what is the G-Man exactly?

Good question. I've pieced together a bunch of stuff, and I've come to a personal opinion that I THINK is correct. It's probably true though. Half Life is my LIFE, no pun intended. I'd be surprised if this was not it.

Quote me to see it.

The G-man is...

 
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